Dragon Hunting Season
by Sealgirl
Summary: COMPLETE The Young Ones run into a group of mercenaries intent on capturing Dragons for their own nefarious purposes. And their next target: Tiamat herself!
1. The Long Wait

DISCLAIMER: OK, you're disclaimed. Next!

STORY: Set after the story 'Wild Ride'. And much to my dismay, it really does help if you read the precceding stories first, but only for this one. Promise that the next one will start afresh!

RATING: PG13.

THANKS: Large amounts of Virtual Thanks to both RK and RS.

* * *

Dragon Hunting Season.

Chapter 1

The Long Wait

High in the mountains, in the deepest and most secure fissure she could find on this Mortal Plane, the Great Dragon was deep in sleep, tired from the day's exertions. Under her vast body, the stockpile of gold and jewels that had been gathered over the millennia were heaped into a priceless bed, and she had nestled into a shallow hollow.

But even as she slept, the Dragon was uncomfortable. Something was calling her. She could feel the familiar thrum of magic, yes, but there was something else as well.

Beyond proper understanding, in the realm of intuition and instinct, she could hear her brethren calling out to her; not the usual whisper of prayer and worship, but the harsh cry of desperation and fear.

She slept on, but the call became stronger as the sky changed from night to day, and the sun rose far enough to send a thin shaft of light across her body.

Finally, she could stand it no longer. Tiamat slowly opened one eye of her great, red head, then the other. The eyes on the other four heads opened too and she pushed herself upright.

She was their Queen, and their god. And her acolytes needed her.

* * *

_It's just another one of those days in the Realm,_ Hank the Ranger reminded himself. _It's just another day… _He took a deep breath, frowning at the two boys. How many times had they been through this already? 

'I don't see why you think you're right, Er-ic,' snapped Bobby the Barbarian. 'What do YOU know about it!'

'I know plenty!' said Eric the Cavalier.

'Oh, yeah?'

'Yeah!'

'Bet ya can't prove it!'

'I don't HAVE to prove it, short-stuff! I'm right!'

'Ya don't have a clue!'

'Of course I do. I'm not stupid!'

'You're the one that keeps on getting' into trouble!'

Eric scowled.

'That has nothing to do with it,' he snapped. 'I still know more about it than you!' Bobby gave a surly humph, but Eric continued regardless. 'Any way you look at it, we shouldn't be standing around here doing nothing!'

'But Dungeonmaster TOLD us to wait, Er-ic!'

'We've done the waiting!' said Eric. 'He's never here when we need him! And I don't see why we have to wait any more!'

This was how it started; this was how it always started. And round they went again.

Hank sighed, and closed his eyes, hoping to filter the sound of the argument out.

They were waiting in a clearing. The same clearing that they'd been in for three days now. Dungeonmaster had appeared just outside the City Gates and told them specifically to wait for him there, but the time he'd set was long since gone. And that was the real source of their problems.

Sheila the Thief was sitting next to Hank looking as annoyed as he felt, the bored unicorn lying at the other side of her pretending to be asleep. But Sheila was obviously not going to get involved in the argument, which was a very wise decision. Her brother Bobby was not going to give up.

Both he and the Cavalier were frustrated and fed up. After Eric's unnatural silence during their trip to the city of Kilan, he'd become more talkative again, but, unfortunately, not more sociable.

Intent on making something happen, the two boys had been at each other's throats all day yesterday, and since they'd woken today, four hours ago. It had mostly been light bickering, but the argument had gradually grown more intense, and more unpleasant.Hank had the funny feeling that this was going to get worse.

_Is this what you meant by our test of strength, Dungeonmaster? _thought the Ranger as he watched his two companions from a safe distance. Under other circumstances Hank would have put his foot down long before now. Instead, he let them argue, hoping that this would blow over. But in his heart, he knew it was only a matter of time before Eric eventually became angry enough to say something dumb, then he would storm off and everyone could get some peace.

Hank would be more than happy with that, because the few times the Cavalier spoke to him directly, every third sentence was usually a dig at his leadership skills. Who was the one to get captured by the Darkling…who was the one who led them over not round the mountains…who let them get captured by Venger…it was never-ending.

And everyone was getting sick of it. He could usually just about stand the Cavalier blowing a bit of steam every so often, but this was a non-stop barrage of insults and it was slowly but surely alienating him from the others. If it continued this way for much too longer, Hank knew the group would find themselves permanently lacking a Cavalier.

That was an unexpectedly attractive thought, as over the past few days there had been the growing and unsettling sense that no one liked the Cavalier any more.

They all thought it, even if they didn't say it openly: Eric was more trouble than he was worth. Diana now glared at him all day, as if trying to work out what he was thinking. Bobby was openly cheeky, the only one to really show his feelings. Sheila was uncomfortable every time Eric went within ten feet of her and Presto, well, it was more difficult to tell with Presto. On the surface, everything seemed fine, but… something wasn't right.

Hank had always found Eric the most difficult to get along with. They had never been the best of friends. In fact, if they hadn't all been stuck in this place, he would never have viewed Eric even as an acquaintance. But they had reached some sort of truce for a while. They'd had a few blips on the way; Warduke, the Cloud Bears, the Box of Balefire, but Eric seemed to have been starting to grow up and take a bit of responsibility. Then something had changed. He couldn't be quite sure when it was, and maybe there wasn't one specific thing.

Having long since stopped bothering to listen to the argument close by, the Ranger turned to give Sheila a small smile, content to sit beside her. She smiled back, looking up into his eyes and making his heart give a little lurch. Sometimes, there was nothing anyone could do to spoil his happiness at finding such a wonderful girl.

Then the argument escalated again, the voices slightly more raised, the words slight more unpleasant. Even the reappearance of Presto and Diana the Acrobat didn't make them stop.

Diana sat down on the other side of Hank with a resigned shrug. Both the Acrobat and the Magician had spent the morning looking for more food. It was obvious from the look on her face that they hadn't found any.

She nodded towards the Cavalier, who was gesturing forcefully towards the road behind them, the condescending scowl back on his face.

'They not given up yet?' she asked in a low tone. Hank shook his head. There was no pointing trying to explain. Diana understood. She understood all to well, since she was the last one to try and get them to shut up.

Hank closed his eyes, trying to block out any sounds. But, inevitably, the subject of the argument turned back to their current situation. This time, Bobby seemed determined to gather support, and he turned to his sister.

'You think we should go look too, don't ya, Sheila?' asked the Barbarian. The Thief looked uncomfortable for a few seconds, then murmured:

'Well, I don't know.' She looked at the Ranger for help getting out of answering her brother. Bobby followed her gaze.

'You think we should look, Hank?'

So far, Hank had refused. Dungeonmaster had told them to wait here, and that's what they were gonna do, period. Both Eric and Bobby had skirted around the subject already this morning, but neither had pushed the point. Until now, and Hank was almost going to…

'Hank agrees with me!' said Eric suddenly, making the Ranger instantly fuming at being dragged into the argument. He'd resolutely stayed on the fence, and that tactic had worked so far. But the Ranger had underestimated how annoyed Eric really was. 'Why do we have to look for Dungeonmaster at all?' continued the Cavalier. 'There's no Sprite fluttering around to tell us he's in trouble. But there's a portal around here somewhere and I say we should go find it!' He looked at Presto. 'Well?'

The Magician looked awkward at the directness of the question.

'C'mon, whadya say, Presto,' said Eric. 'You get that Hat up and running and we'll go find it ourselves!'

Presto didn't reply, and Hank suddenly stared at him, forgetting about the Cavalier. The Magician had been in a very strange mood since they'd left Kilan, and that Hat had something to do with it. He'd been struggling with it since Mindril, but there was more…

'You're the one with more power,' said Presto, the sarcasm in his voice almost hidden. 'Why don't you find it yourself!'

There it was, and Hank cursed himself for not seeing it before. The Magician was jealous! It was hard to believe that anyone could be jealous of the way Eric trampled through life with his mind shut and his mouth open, but Presto was. Presto the Magician, with a Hat he couldn't get to work, who didn't even get to be Dungeonmaster when the opportunity arose and who's own power was mild in comparison to Eric's, according to the Wizard they had encountered at Kilan.

Eric was looking shocked at Presto's reply. It wasn't like the Magician to say that sort of thing, and the Cavalier was struggling for something to say in response. Sheila tactfully stepped in.

'We can't find the portal our own,' she said. 'We have to find Dungeonmaster!'

'Dungeonmaster can just fu…be damned!' the Cavalier said, hurriedly changing his turn of phrase when Sheila scowled at him. 'I've had it with this dumb place. And the next portal I see, I'm going through it! No matter what!'

'Oh, c'mon, Eric,' said Diana, standing up. 'We all wanna get home!'

'Don't "c'mon, Eric" me!' he snapped, his voice rising. 'It's OK for you! You haven't had your blood used in an evil-power ritual! You haven't been immobilised by a stillness powder! You haven't had THAT stuff forced down you while your friends were off getting lost in tunnels!'

Bobby the Barbarian swung his Club over his shoulder, staring at the Cavalier with a sulky expression.

'Oh yeah?' he said. 'What about Hank and the Grotto of Darkness? What about Presto and the Underworld? And you didn't do much at Amoran either!'

Eric narrowed his eyes, looking furious. For some reason, he got very tetchy whenever that place was mentioned, something the Barbarian had obviously noticed, and decided to use to his advantage.

'What about them?' demanded the Cavalier, his voice suddenly shaking. 'Just what do you want me to say?'

The Barbarian paused, and Hank suddenly looked up, sensing something was wrong.

'Well…' started Bobby uncertainly.

'I'm SICK of it!' Eric snarled, slamming his Shield to the ground. 'I'm sick of this whole goddamn place!' Everyone stared at him. Hank looked at the other boy in alarm. This wasn't one of the Cavalier's normal, petulant tantrums. This was serious.

Sheila made as if to stand, but he turned to glare at her.

'Why are we still here?' he asked her, struggling with his temper. 'Dungeonmaster says "go here" and we do. Dungeonmaster says "do this" and we do. Dungeonmaster says "wait" and we do.' The Cavalier turned to scowl at Hank. 'When are we gonna do something for ourselves? When are we gonna stop giving and start taking?'

'Dungeonmaster told us to wait here for a reason, Eric,' said Hank, trying to keep a hold of his own temper. Matching Eric's anger was only going to make things worse.

The other boy came right up to Hank and poked a gauntleted finger at his chest. From close up, Hank could see the anger in Eric's eyes. He'd only seen the Cavalier like this before once before, and he didn't like it then either.

'I'm not gonna stay in this place for any longer than I have to!' hissed the Cavalier.

They looked each other in the eye, but it was Hank that looked away first, unsettled by the conviction in Eric's expression.

'What's gotten into you, Eric?' he asked.

'I'm sick of being Dungeonmaster's whipping boy!' said the Cavalier through gritted teeth, 'I've had enough and I want out!'

'But you can't just leave…' started Sheila.

'Oh, can't I?'

Sheila looked confused at his reply, as did everybody else.

'C'mon, Eric,' said Diana, 'Quit kidding…'

The Cavalier rounded on her, more angry than Hank had ever seen him.

'What if I'm not kidding,' he said. 'What if I'm…' his voice was shaking much more obviously now and he couldn't continue. As Eric glanced away his face still flushed, the two girls both turned to Hank, trying to get him to say something to help.

What else could he do? It would seem like he'd given in to Eric, just to get some peace, but really, what choice did they have? As tempting as it was to let the Cavalier sulk off, it was the safety of the group that was paramount. They had to stick together, and it was up to Hank to make sure they were all OK.

The Ranger sighed.

'Alright guys, we're all going to the town to look for him.'

Eric shook his head.

'Nope! No way! I'm not going trailing around the countryside looking for him! I'm staying RIGHT here!'

Hank scowled at him, suddenly sick of the whole argument. Why did Eric always have to do this? A few minutes ago, the last thing the Cavalier had wanted to do was wait here like Dungeonmaster had told them. And now, just because it was what everyone else wanted to do, he had changed his mind! He was being deliberately provocative.

The Ranger was in no mood to put up with it anymore. The constant sniping and sarcasm had frayed the nerves of the group to within breaking point. OK, so Eric had every right to be angry after everything that'd happened, but taking it out on his friends wasn't gonna help.

But Hank still had one final trick up his sleeve.

'Fine!' he snapped at the Cavalier. 'Find the portal! Or stay here! But it'll be on your own!'

It was always the same. Eric would whinge and complain about doing anything, until he realised he'd have to be left on his own, then come slinking after them with his tail between his legs, pretending that that was exactly what he'd intended all along.

But much to the Ranger's (and everyone else's) surprise, Eric gave a terse nod.

'That will suit me just fine!' said Eric, sitting down beside a rock and crossing his arms. 'I am not going ANYWHERE until Dungeonmaster appears and tells us where a dumb portal is!'

Hank glared at Eric, ignoring the panicked looks from the two girls. That two-faced, hypocritical… The Ranger bit down on the last descriptive word, trying to control his own temper. Over the past few days, all Eric had done was criticise every decision he could. This was the last straw! The Ranger abruptly stood up.

'Well, lets go then, and leave the Cavalier to his waiting!'

With that, the Ranger stormed off.

And one by one, the others followed. All except Eric.

* * *


	2. Down Time

Chapter 2

Down Time

A good way ahead of them, Ranger set a very brisk pace, and made it obvious that he didn't want to talk as he strode forward along the road to the small town of Dragorlin.

So, instead of trying to catch up with him, Diana fell into step beside Sheila and her brother, with Presto following behind. The unicorn trailed after them at the back, often casting long and anxious glances back to the clearing. Diana was pretty sure Uni wasn't worrying about the Cavalier, but about leaving the safety of the forest for another town; Kilan hadn't been a pleasant place.

Beside her, Sheila and Bobby were chatting, talking about the town ahead of them, and where Dungeonmaster might be, and deliberately avoiding any mention of the argument. Diana listened for a while but didn't join in, then found herself wondering how they'd managed to get themselves into this situation.

Somehow, the Acrobat had known this was going to happen: the tension had been building between those two for a number of weeks. Hank took being leader very seriously, she knew. The sly and not-so-subtle digs at his leadership skills weren't helping the Ranger's confidence, especially after the Darkling Incident. The only surprising thing was that it had taken so long!

Well, no. The other surprising thing was that it was Hank, not Eric that had done the storming.

She wondered about that for some time as they walked. Not only had Eric stayed behind (nothing new there!), but he'd stayed behind on his own. Considering all that had happened recently, she wouldn't have been so keen to stay on her own, if she'd been in his position.

She knew what he was doing; it had been obvious since the Guild in Kilan that he was trying desperately to keep control of an uncontrollable situation; and he reacted just like his father did in stressful circumstances, trying to bluster his way through with anger and bravado. But the Cavalier couldn't carry it off, and had just ended up putting them all in danger. That boy was a trouble magnet! There was no way in Hell he was gonna get any peace in the clearing!

Then again, perhaps his luck had changed; maybe he'd be bored. She gave a sudden grin at the thought of their Cavalier sitting quietly in on a rock, enjoying a good crossword.

Like THAT was gonna happen!

But they wouldn't be away for too long as, thanks to the Ranger's fast pace, it took them less than an hour to get to the town. There wasn't the same uncomfortable feeling in Dragorlin as there had been in Kilan; this was just a sleepy little place, and it looked like nothing much ever happened here. The gate wasn't guarded, the shops were small and homely, and the people all smiled at them as they passed. Even Uni was strutting along, and seemed to be enjoying the attention. Hank had slowed to let them catch up, and they walked through the streets together, going with the flow of people up the main street towards the Town Square.

It was much like any other town square they'd been too; wide, open space with people milling about and shops round the side. But here in Dragorlin, the centre was adorned with a beautiful Statue of a huge three-headed, blue Dragon, its legs extended out to grasp unknown prey below it, and the cobalt-blue wings swept back. The shadow of the Dragon's wings covered at least half of the Square.

They stopped to admire it, and Diana was struck by a vague feeling of oddness and familiarity. But she would have remembered meeting a Dragon like that before.

'Welcome, friends,' said a friendly voice beside them. 'And what can I get you, on this fine afternoon?'

They turned to see a short, round-bellied man, with a white apron and cap, smiling at them. He held out his hand.

'Hi,' said Hank, shaking it. 'We're just visiting for the day, and having a look around.'

'Thirsty work, looking,' said the man. 'You'll need refreshment. I can soon get five beers ready for you.'

He gestured towards one of the shops, where there were a few chairs out at the front.

Diana hoped the Ranger would agree, and they would get a chance to sit down and relax together, but Hank shook his head.

'We've only just arrived. We should really keep going.'

The man shrugged, and changed tactics.

'You like our Statue?' he asked.

Everyone nodded. Diana had to admit, it was a very beautiful Statue, one of the finest pieces of workmanship they'd seen in a long time, from the subtle glint in its eye all the way down to the shading of the scales.

'This is Apsu, the great King of the Dragons,' said the man, giving it a grand gesture.

Diana winked at Presto, and whispered:

'Not Queen Tiamat fans, then.'

She was rewarded with a shy smile from the Magician, but if the others heard, none reacted.

That wasn't right. There was something missing, and for just a second she couldn't put her finger on what it was. There was no come back, or put down, no more smart comments, no sarcastic observations. In short: no Eric.

The Acrobat shivered. This place was really starved of good company if she was actually missing Eric! Unnerved, she looked back at the Statue, examining at it more closely.

'Hey,' she said suddenly. 'There's nothing keeping it up!'

That was what was odd about it. There was a clear gap between the plinth and the Statue itself! It was just hanging in the air.

'But that's not possible!' said Hank in amazement. 'How does it stay up there?'

'Aesthetics,' said the man affably.

The Ranger seemed slightly confused by the answer and didn't reply.

'That's cool!' the Barbarian said, beaming round at the others. 'What's aesthetics?'

This time, everyone seemed to miss the scathing put-down that should have been there; Sheila glanced to the ground, Presto looked embarrassed, and both Bobby and Hank scowled.

The man was taken aback by their reaction, but quickly filled the awkward silence.

'You've picked a good day for visiting,' he told them. 'The market's on today.'

He pointed to one of the streets, filled with people and busy stalls 'Lots to see and buy. I can keep those beers cool for you, while you look.'

Diana gave a smile. This guy was good! Bobby stepped forward so he could see the stalls more clearly.

'I wanna look down there,' he said, pointing. 'Can I go? Please? I'll be careful. Pleeee-ase?'

Hank didn't seem inclined to let him go, but the town seemed placid enough; it was quiet and reminded her of the happy town of Helix. He had been content to let the others wander off on their own there. Why not here?

'C'mon Hank,' she said. 'Why not let us all relax?'

'Oh, OK,' he replied after a moments hesitation, making Bobby cheer. 'But we'll meet back here at the Statue in an hour.' The Ranger turned to the man. 'And we'll maybe need some beers then.'

The man gave a jovial smile, and headed back to his shop. Bobby didn't wait for more encouragement and he headed off, with the unicorn trotting beside him.

Diana noticed the looks Sheila was giving her, and tactfully suggested to Presto that they have a look at some of the stalls too. The Magician, though not in a good mood, must have seen Sheila's hints too, and agreed. So together they made their way down the road.

For an hour, she and Presto window-shopped, occasionally getting free samples of food to enjoy. Everything seemed normal, and the Magician was happy enough to talk. But there was no mention of either the Hat, or Eric. Diana was content to steer clear of those topics, knowing full well that if Presto wanted her opinion, he would ask.

Besides, she was feeling good, and didn't want to think about the Cavalier and his mood swings at the moment. Before the argument this morning she had still been worried about him, but her tolerance had worn pretty thin by the time they'd left. Maybe he had every right to be upset, but taking it out on his friends wasn't gonna help! They'd put up with a lot from Eric over the years, but they were still his friends, in spite of everything.

It was just that Eric didn't seem to know that anymore.

She took a covert glance at Presto as he walked beside her, looking at the stalls. Her gaze fell on the Hat, that dangerous and temperamental weapon. He'd hardly used it at all since Mindril, (no surprises there).

As if he could feel her gaze, he looked round suddenly and noticed her interest in the Hat. A dejected expression crossed his face, and he gave a sigh.

_Time for a change of scene_, she thought.

Fortunately, one of the shops nearby seemed unusual enough to be commented on.

'Hey,' she said, pointing, 'that place looks interesting. Let's take a look.'

As they moved closer, Diana realised it was a very odd shop. It was dark, and old, and had nothing in the window. Instead of a name above it, there was only one word: Supplies.

'What sorta supplies do you think it means?' asked Presto.

Diana shook her head.

'Camping?' she suggested with a grin.

Presto gave her that shy smile again.

'Well, c'mon,' she said brightly. 'Let's take a look.'

It wasn't what she'd expected. It was empty, but for a single counter and the heavy scent of burning wood. There was nothing else there, except a dull blue carpet and a door. She exchanged worried looks with Presto, knowing he was thinking the same as her: _Lets get out of here!_

But they were too slow, as the door opened and a tall, brown haired woman stepped out, dressed in Ranger-type clothes. She immediately noticed their weapons.

'Um, hi,' said Diana, after what seemed like hours of being stared at. 'I think we're in the wrong shop.'

The woman stepped slowly forward, her hand stretched out, but she stopped before touching the weapons.

'Dragon-made? Yes?' she asked. As Presto nodded, Diana noticed a slight twitch cross the woman's face. 'Then I don't think you're in the wrong shop at all.'

She looked at their startled faces.

'You are not here to sell them?'

Diana shook her head, and took a small step backwards. It was almost as if the woman had been expecting them. But that wasn't possible.

'Like I said, I think we're in the wrong shop.'

'But you would get a very high price for them.'

Diana scowled. She was so sick of the word "price"!

'No, we'd like to keep them.'

The following silence quickly became unbearable, and Diana took another step back, pulling the Magician along with her. The way the woman stared at them made her feel really uncomfortable.

'Sorry we disturbed you,' she muttered, heading out of the door.

The door swung shut, and they walked quickly off round the corner before Diana gave a quiet sigh of relief.

'That was real odd,' she said, glancing over her shoulder.

Presto nodded.

'Yeah, something wasn't right about that place. It was… creepy.'

She hadn't given much thought to Dungeonmaster's latest riddle: _A test of strength, but a trial of weakness._

She had a funny feeling that this shop was somehow important.

'C'mon,' she said, taking Presto's arm. 'Let's find Hank and the others.'

* * *

Hank knew what Sheila was up to, and didn't feel like cooperating. So when the others left them alone, he deliberately walked off in the opposite direction, before she could say anything.

But he'd reckoned without her persistence. After only a few steps, she was back at his side. She didn't speak and they walked on in silence.

At first he was annoyed. He'd wanted some peace and a bit of space. Was that really too much to ask? She would only want him to "talk about it" and he didn't even want to think about it, let alone discuss it. He could feel her presence, and it grew more distracting with each step. So he eventually stopped walking, turned to her and said:

'Look, I know what you're thinking, Sheila. But I've had enough of him.'

She made no reply, but looked up at him in that endearing way of hers, her eyes so beguiling and green. He could stare into her eyes forever.

'Won't you talk to me,' she said. 'Please?'

He would rather have talked to Diana or even Presto; he didn't want to upset her, he cared about her far too much. But he couldn't say no.

'I'm sick of him,' he said at last. 'I'm sick of this place, I'm sick of sleeping on the ground and having nuts and berries for dinner, but most of all, I'm sick of him.'

They'd had this conversation before, a few weeks after they'd arrived in this terrible place after a particularly spectacular display of selfishness and cowardice from the Cavalier. His behaviour had slowly improved and, after the disaster with the Box of Balefire, Hank had believed that Eric might be growing up and taking more responsibility. But his behaviour over the past few weeks had just gotten worse and worse and this morning's petty argument was the last straw.

'He's got a few things on his mind,' said Sheila, glancing down at the ground. 'It's gotten nasty for him recently.'

Hank gave a humph. She was gonna defend him now? There was a sudden, uncomfortable feeling, one that he didn't like. He didn't like the thought of Sheila siding with Eric over him. She wasn't supposed to do that!

'It wasn't exactly fun in the Grotto, you know!'

'I know, Hank,' Sheila said. 'But Eric's usually the one to get into trouble. I think Kilan was the last straw.'

Hank snorted again.

'And what did he do there? Sulk… and pick fights!'

'Hank, that's not fair.'

He looked back at her. That was a pretty accurate description of the Cavalier's behaviour as far as he was concerned.

'He did nothing cause trouble,' snapped Hank.

She frowned at him.

'He didn't mean to! He doesn't do it on purpose!'

'But he does. It's been one catastrophe after another with him. He just never learns!'

'That's not fair either!'

'He goes blundering around causing trouble, and it's up to us to pick up the pieces. He's a liability!'

Sheila frowned more deeply, looking genuinely worried.

'What's gotten into you?' she asked. 'This isn't like you.'

That seemed vaguely insulting to him, as if disliking Eric wasn't allowed. A dark, resentful feeling crept into is heart. Why couldn't she just let this go?

'He is a liability,' Hank repeated firmly. 'I don't know why we came back for him!'

'Hank!'

'We came back when he was a Bogbeast, we left the portal in the Lightning Forest. We've saved his sorry ass more times than I can be bothered counting, we struggle every day, and he just carries on, as infuriating and thoughtless as usual!'

'You don't really think it's had no effect on him?' Her incredulous tone was instantly annoying. 'Of course it has!'

'Well, it doesn't look like that to me! He just as unlikeable now as he was back at school!'

'You don't mean that, Hank.'

'No, I don't,' he said. 'Eric's gotten worse! He's stepped over the line, he kil…'

Hank stopped abruptly. He didn't want to think about that. He didn't want to talk about it either.

'He… what?' asked Sheila, the motherly, concerned look on her face making him feel terrible. She reached out to touch his arm. 'Please, Hank. Tell me what you were gonna say.'

'He killed that Troglodyte,' said Hank softly. 'None of us have ever gone that far before. I know it was self defence, but… he killed it.'

But that wasn't what he was really thinking. _It was my fault…I put him in that position… I did this to him…_

He'd been the one who left Eric behind; he'd left Eric at the mercy of the Trogs when he knew perfectly well there was no way out. And he'd left Eric because he liked Presto better. _You turned Eric into a killer._

'Oh, Hank! Of course he didn't!'

It took Hank a few moments to form a reply. She seemed so matter-of-fact, so sure.

She just thought he was too nice to behave like that. He'd been desperate, and alone, and it must have been his only option.

_And I forced it on him! This is MY FAULT! What kind of leader am I? _

Hank found he was shaking. He couldn't look Sheila in the eyes in case he showed his weakness.

'But Hank, he couldn't have,' she said. 'He could barely stand up, let alone lift a sword! There had been other slaves, one of them must have come to help.'

'He could still have…'

Sheila cut in.

'Didn't you see the look on his face when you suggested that? Come on, Hank! You don't really think he'd have been able to do that. Not really.'

Had he really misjudged the Cavalier so badly?

'We still haven't had a straight answer,' Hank told her. Sheila just looked at him. 'Well, we haven't!'

'It was stabbed in the back, you know,' she said eventually. 'So how did he manage that!'

'Um…'

'And the whole Lair was trashed. Not even Eric on a good day could have done that!'

'So do you think happened, then?' he asked, soundly more petulant than he'd meant to; something Sheila didn't appreciate, judging by the harsher tone as she answered.

'He couldn't have smashed the Lair; he couldn't have reached a sword. So someone had to help him. I'd guess Dwarves. Perhaps he helped them, and then they helped him back.'

A frown flicked across his face. They hadn't seen any Dwarves, true, but there were always Dwarf slaves in Troglodyte Lairs. All those smashed cells, the open Vault that Diana found, the key on the floor… Perhaps Sheila was right.

'You've obviously given this a lot of thought,' he said, trying to keep his emotions in check. But the dark, resentful feeling wasn't going away. He was jealous! Jealous of her concern for the Cavalier.

As she looked up at him, Hank felt just as angry as he had in the earlier argument with Eric. That boy couldn't help stirring things up, even when he wasn't even here! They shouldn't even be discussing this.

But that wasn't the end of it. He couldn't convince himself that was the end of it.

Eric was a convenient scapegoat, as always. That wasn't to say he didn't deserve it; he'd managed to get them into serious trouble any number of times. But not this time.

The dark, uncomfortable feeling wasn't just jealousy. It was guilt.

Sheila was watching him, with a tender expression on her face.

'You think… you think it was your fault. Don't you?'

Hank couldn't speak. What a dumb question! He was the leader, of course it was his fault.

'It was my decision,' he said at last. 'I'm the leader, and I left him behind.' Now he'd said it, he couldn't keep it all in any longer. 'I did this! I left him for the Trogs to torture. I left him behind and turned him into a killer. I left him behind… because… because I like Presto more.'

He'd said. It was out in the open now, and she knew that, for all his pretence at fairness and morality, he was just as shallow as the Cavalier himself.

'You had to choose and you did what you thought was right.'

'How could I have been right! Eric's…' he couldn't find the right word to describe the Cavalier. 'Eric's … '

'But it worked out,' she reminded him. 'They were both ok.'

Whether Eric could reasonably be classed as "ok" after what the Trogs had done to him was open to question, and Sheila realised it. 'Well, they are. Sort of.'

'But what about next time? What if I have to choose again? What if… next time, it's you?' She opened her mouth to reply but he kept on going. 'I could never leave you, I would come after you no matter what, even if it mean leaving everyone and everything else behind.' He loved her. He would do anything for her. They had agreed to wait; that sort of relationship was too dangerous in the Realm. But the feelings wouldn't go away, and seeing her every day and knowing they couldn't be together yet was making it worse. How could love cause this much trouble?

He took a slow breath.

'What kind of leader would do that?' he asked.

To his surprise, she smiled.

'We trust you, Hank. All of us. Even Eric.' Hank couldn't help looking incredulous. 'He led us against the Darkling to get you back, because you are our leader. And we need you.' There was a pause. 'I need you.'

She leaned across and kissed him full on the lips. He was too surprised to respond at first, but as she started to pull away, he held her close and kissed her back. He forgot about everything else except her, and they stood in the street kissing, oblivious to the rest of the world.

Slowly, he broke their kiss. Sheila spoke first.

'I love you too, you know,' she told him, a blush creeping across her face. They couldn't let this happen, they had both agreed. Neither of them wanted to move, and break this wonderful moment, but this couldn't happen. Regretfully, Sheila moved away.

'Um, I think I should go… and maybe find the others,' she said. It was obvious she didn't want to, but Hank didn't stop her. She gave him a warm smile. 'Don't worry about us Hank, we'll be fine. All of us.'

* * *

Eric waited alone all afternoon.

He was still uneasy, not have the others around, but he could cope. He'd been alone in the Warlock's castle. He'd been alone in the Trogs Lair. There was once a time when being alone in this dumb place had frightened him more than anything else.

But not anymore. One little clearing wasn't going to scare him, not today!

He wanted some peace, and he wanted some privacy, away from the others. He wanted to be alone for a while.

The last attempt to take more control hadn't been such a success; he had never been very good at picking fights and Kilan had been no exception. He would probably have been dog-food by now if the others hadn't intervened. But he'd been pleased with the way he'd engineered an argument with Hank, getting the Ranger to go off with out him.

But them more he thought about it, the more he realised that it was too easy. None of them liked him anymore. Anymore? They barely tolerated him at the best of times, but now they all seemed to hate him.

Eric had never been under any illusions about the others. Even back at home, they'd been way too nice to tell him to get lost, even though they must have wanted to on any number of occasions. And ever since they'd arrived in this crummy Realm, he'd been a liability. He'd sensed a change after the Grotto, but the gratitude and respect was short-lived.

None of them seemed unable to stand his company anymore, especially Hank. Mention the word Troglodyte around Hank, and the looks of disapproval could freeze lava! Diana kept her distance, Bobby still argued, even the normally tolerant Sheila was anxious around him.

And it had come as a nasty surprise to find the Magician so jealous. He realised what had happened, of course, he didn't see it at the time, but he'd had other stuff to think about. "His power will ALWAYS surpass yours!" Trust the stupid Wizard to deliberately stir things up. Eric didn't believe it, the only power he had was to create trouble. Yes, he'd been Dungeonmaster for a day, but Presto was the one with the Hat, even if it didn't always work.

In fact, there was only one thing recently that had come close to going right for him, but thinking about her just made him feel worse.

He missed her.

He'd counted up the hours; they'd spent a total of about thirty hours alone together. Not even two days. And he missed her. How dumb was that?

Worse, he'd gone and blurted it out to Presto. Sheila already knew, and Sheila would have had to tell Hank. Somehow, Uni could knew too, she had been giving him funny looks ever since that day. And in all likelihood Diana had guessed, she wasn't stupid. So they all knew! Well, except Bobby, and when HE found out life was going to be totally unbearable!

Annoyed at himself for brooding over some girl, he decided to make himself useful and gather more firewood for later, and whatever the others brought back from the town. Assuming they did bring something back for him.

He sighed.

Perhaps this hadn't been such a great idea after all.

The suns had moved behind the trees when he finally saw a movement in the forest.

'About time the others returned,' he murmured. 'Hope they brought some food.'

He stood, looking carefully. There was something odd going on. Shouldn't he be able to hear them too? But there were no voices.

This isn't right… 

There was a flash of shiny yellow then something hit him in the chest, knocking his breath out of his lungs. His Shield was trapped under his back and he was pinning to the ground by a large claw.

Unreasonable anger surged through him, taking no account of the danger. _Goddamn it! This was just NOT fair! Why did the bad stuff ALWAYS happen to him?_

There was an ear-splitting shriek from the creature above him.

'Da-da!'

* * *


	3. Blast From the Past

Chapter 3

Blast from the Past

Before the Cavalier could react, a long golden muzzle descended and his face was covered in a wet lick. He looked up into the face of a young Golden Dragon, then it licked him again.

'Da-Da!' it squealed. 'Found! Da-da!'

The pressure on his chest increased and the Cavalier struggled for air.

'Hey…' he managed, '… lemme… up.'

The animal tilted its head to one side, then the other, as if trying to understand. In desperation, Eric gave the claw a futile push. The Dragon immediately removed it and the Cavalier drank in the sudden rush of air. Slowly, he sat up.

The Dragon looked at him with big, red eyes. It was the size of a small car, with long, slender wings and a whip-like tail. It seemed very pleased to see him and sat watching his every movement with great interest. He hadn't been stared at so intently since…_No, he wasn't going to think about her! There was no point!_

'Hi,' he said, when he finally had enough breath to talk. 'It's nice to see you. What ya doin' here?'

It blinked at him, still staring, almost as if it didn't understand. Then it prodded him affectionately on the shoulder.

'Found. Da-da,' it repeated.

'You're the baby one, yeah?' he asked.

After another pause, it nodded, doing a good impression of an over-eager puppy. And if he hadn't moved out of the way, it would have knocked him over in its enthusiasm.

'Da-da!' it said. 'Baby.'

Eric realised this was not gonna be an easy conversation, but at least the young Dragon seemed to be able to understand him, even if it didn't work the other way round all the time. It didn't come as a huge surprise that the Dragon talked to him. Its Mom had spoken to him, only once. She didn't speak in front of the others, but just before they were leaving, she had coiled around him in a protective kind of way and politely thanked him for his help against the Giant. She'd obviously taught her children to talk too.

He smiled back at the creature.

'Yeah, course you are the baby one,' he said, trying to think how long ago it was that they'd met the Golden Dragon. It couldn't have been much more than a year. 'But aren't you a bit young to be out on your own? Where's your Mom and your brother?'

The Dragon shook its head, then furrowed its forehead, as if trying to concentrate.

'Forest,' it said at last. 'Help.'

There was no infection in its voice, and it was almost impossible to tell what it meant.

Did it want to help him, or did it need his help? He sighed. Wouldn't it be nice if it was here to help him find a portal, but knowing this dumb Realm, it was probably the latter.

'You want me to help you?' he suggested, a sinking feeling in his heart. It was always the same whenever they got a sniff of a portal. Something always happened, there was always someone else to help first.

It was looking at him with big yellow eyes, and it nodded.

'Brother. Find.'

The sinking feeling got worse.

'You want me to help find your brother? In the forest?'

It nodded vigorously.

He smiled, in spite of himself. He was doing quite well with an animal whose vocabulary seemed to consist of a small selection of nouns and verbs. It was easier than talking to Uni!

'What's happened to him? He get lost?' asked Eric. The Dragon narrowed its eyes and gave a long, low hiss. It didn't reply immediately, and seemed to be trying to work out what to say, or how to say it.

'Druid,' it said finally. 'Dragon.'

He might not have hung around the Golden Dragons for long, but he knew enough about then to know they were angry. Whoever this Druid was, they weren't popular with this little Dragon! The sinking feeling got worse once more. This was gonna get him into trouble.

'Dragon Druids?'

The animal shook its head.

'Druid.' It stopped, and seemed to be thinking. 'Get.'

'A Druid, that gets Dragons?' suggested Eric.

'Dragon. Keep,' it said. Then it added in a morose tone: 'Brother. Keep.'

Eric raised his eyebrow, finally starting to understand.

'Your big brother's been taken somewhere by this Druid?' he asked. The Dragon nodded. 'And you want me to help you rescue him? Right now?'

It nodded once more, looking at him in a pleading kind of way.

Eric hesitated.

He should help it. But he knew what was going to happen; it was all gonna go wrong and he was gonna end up in mortal danger… again! And in need of rescue… again! No one was getting more sick of that than him, and he really wanted to stay out of trouble; the others were gonna lynch him if he screwed this up. Well, that's if he was lucky and they came after him at all. Maybe they would just leave him.

That was too depressing a thought; he really, really should stay put this time.

Eric sighed and stood up, his chest still hurt from the impact of its claw, and breathing was going to be difficult for a while. He petted the dragon on its snout and it rubbed back, happy at the attention.

How was he supposed to say "find him yourself" to it?

'Well, I suppose I could come with you for a short way,' he said, as unenthusiastically as he could. 'I don't want you to get lost or anything.' It still had that expectant, hopeful look in its eye. 'We could find my friends.'

It shook its head firmly.

'Dragon. Keep,' it said, sounding more urgent. 'Keep!'

'We could a quick look, then…' began Eric. But before he could continue, the Dragon gave him a big, wet lick and marched off through the undergrowth, looking for all the world as if it knew exactly what it was doing. It obviously expected him to follow. Eric watched its tail disappear, his heart way down in his boots. This was a really bad idea, but he was committed now. Hopefully, the others would understand.

The Dragon knew the way to go, and all Eric had to do was keep up. They walked in silence side by side, its tail waving about behind them. It seemed clumsy, but then, it was still young. It reminded him of a fat cat that had forgotten what its legs were for.

They walked for an hour or so, picking their way through the forest and trying to look inconspicuous. It was surprising how well the baby Dragon blended in. Its scales were a dull yellow, with tiny flecks of gold, but if it kept still in the shadows, you could easily pass it by without noticing it.

It kept up a good pace, and showed no sign of getting tired. But Eric was, and hungry too. He'd forgone the minimal breakfast that Presto had scraped together in favour of arguing with Bobby. But now, where there was no chance of anything more appetising than a handful of cold water, he was suddenly starving.

He slowed, and the Dragon noticed immediately.

'Sorry,' he said, noting the impatience in its glance. 'I didn't get any breakfast!'

It stared at him, head tilted to one side once more. A second later, the Dragon had darted off and was grubbing around in the undergrowth. It appeared back after just a few minutes looking incredibly pleased, holding something in its mouth, which it dropped obediently at Eric's feet.

It was a stone.

'Um… I don't eat stones,' he said after a couple of seconds.

The look from the Dragon seemed to say an incredulous "You don't?". Eric shook his head.

'We humans sorta eat real food,' he said, hoping it understood. 'You know, nuts, berries, ice cream, burgers. Food.'

He gave a wistful sigh. What he wouldn't give for a cheeseburger right now!

'Burger,' it repeated, looking confused. 'Ice cream.'

It wanted him to explain, probably so it could go off and find some for him. He couldn't help smiling and he patted it again.

'You're not gonna find any burgers round here,' he said with a sigh. 'Or ice cream… Hey!'

It had turned round, and dived back into the undergrowth. It was gone for longer this time, and made distinct snuffling noises as it trampled around.

This time, it came back with a branch in its mouth.

He recognised the berries on it: dragonberries, lovely sweet, juicy fruit that were a bright red when they were ripe. Unfortunately, these were still a dull blue.

It offered him the branch, and he took it, looking at the fruits with a frown. After all the trouble it had taken, he couldn't refuse to eat them. But under-ripe, they would probably taste terrible!

The Dragon was watching him.

Slowly, he pulled off a berry and popped it into his mouth. He tried not to bite into it, but even so it tasted disgusting, like bitter soap with a hint of rubber. But he managed to swallow it.

The Dragon was still watching him.

One by one, he pulled the remaining berries off and ate them. After the first ten, he started to get used to the taste and managed the rest without too much trouble, but he never made the mistake of biting into one. By the end, the Dragon seemed satisfied that its offering met with his approval, and quickly gobbled up the stone it had brought earlier, before heading off again.

Despite tasting foul, the berries took the edge of the hunger, and Eric found it easier to keep up with his companion. It didn't say anything, and was intent on getting were it was going as quickly as possible, so Eric didn't disturb it.

When he had first arrived in the Realm, this would have been unheard of. He'd had a very clear idea of how to survive, and it didn't involve helping other people (or creatures) but throwing his money around. He'd scoffed at the others for trying to help, and now, here he was charging off on a solo rescue mission! And there still wasn't even a hint of a portal!

They hadn't seen a portal for weeks. He, personally, hadn't seen one for months as he'd missed both the one the Warlock created and the one in Venger's castle. Krin's crappy machine didn't count; while he said what it could have done, the portal hadn't opened, and they didn't even get a glimpse of home. He was struggling to remember what the Amusement Park looked like!

How did he ever manage to get himself into…

Suddenly, he realised the Dragon wasn't beside him any more. It had stopped, a few feet behind, and seemed to be listening out for something.

He walked back to it, and gave it a friendly, reassuring pat. It seemed to know this forest pretty well, it might be able to give him a few clues as to where the portal was, so after finding its brother, he could start looking.

'Look,' he said as it stood there, 'just outta interest. Have you seen a portal around here? Anywhere?'

The Dragon thought about this for few seconds, then shook its head.

'Dragons.'

Eric sighed. Why had he gotten his hopes up?

'You've just seen dragons? I should have guessed!'

'Dragons,' it repeated, more forcefully. An odd thought struck him.

'You don't mean… that dragons can open a portal? Do you?'

Much to his surprise, it nodded, seemingly happy that he understood. But he didn't. Dragons don't open portals. And if they did, why had no one told him this before? His heartbeat sped up. And if they did, then…

'Can you open a portal?' he asked, his voice a shaky whisper. It shook his head.

'Dragons,' it said. 'Dragons. Dragons. Dragons!'

It seemed to be nodding its head in one direction, so Eric carefully moved forward. It didn't take long for the forest to thin out, then stop at the top of a sheer cliff.

He looked out over the plane below; his breath caught in his chest and any thoughts of portals disappeared. So that was what it meant. He had to blink to make sure he wasn't imagining things.

It might not have a large vocabulary, but it had obviously mastered the art of the understatement!

'Well,' he murmured, 'at least we're in the right place.'

* * *

'Hank's taking his time,' said Presto. 'Wonder where he is.' 

Diana stifled a knowing smile. Sheila hadn't returned either, and those two were probably having a wonderful, quiet and romantic time together, for once. They didn't get the chance to be alone often.

'I'm sure he'll be back soon,' said the Acrobat. 'Besides, there's no rush.'

Presto nodded, though a shade more half-heartedly than she'd expected. They'd been sitting side by side by the base of the Statue for a while in comfortable silence, but now the Magician seemed on edge. The next minute of silence was much more tense, and Diana was sure he was building up to saying something.

Sure enough, she heard Presto take a deep breath.

'Diana,' he said, 'can I ask you something?' She smiled brightly at him, but he was looking real worried. The Hat was lying across his knee, and he was rubbing the end of it between his hands. 'It's kinda… well…'

He looked up at her, with an expression she'd never seen before.

'Magic,' he said haltingly. 'I try, and I don't know what else to do.' His voice dropped to a rough whisper. 'I'm never gonna get it right. I should just give up. I'm no good.'

She put her hand on his arm, trying to reassure the Magician. She knew better than to think this was just a small crisis of confidence. Presto might moan about the Hat, or call it dumb or stupid, but he loved magic; never before had he wanted to give up.

'I don't understand what I have to do to make it work,' he said, his voice with a hint of anger. 'It doesn't come with a manual, Dungeonmaster's never said anything to help, except dumb "twiddles" and…'

He stopped. Diana knew what he was thinking, she had seen it earlier when the Cavalier and the Barbarian were arguing. What was it Shawn the Wizard had said in Kilan? _And you should know, Magician, that even if this Cavalier is too weak and cowardly to use it, his power will ALWAYS surpass yours!_

She didn't believe it; she doubted any of them did, even Eric himself. But Presto did, and Diana found it hard to understand; that anyone would be jealous of Eric was a joke!

'Eric,' said Presto thickly, 'all this time, I never saw it.'

'Shawn was doing it deliberately,' she told him, 'because you and the Hat were the ones he feared.'

The Magician shook his head and said firmly.

'I don't think so.'

'C'mon, Presto, this is Eric we're talking about! You know what he's like!'

That got a grudging smile out of the Magician, but it only lasted for a few seconds.

'And he hates me,' Presto said blankly.

That statement took her by surprise. What was he talking about? They were best friends!

'C'mon, Presto!' she said in disbelief. 'I know he's been a little off lately, but those Trogs really messed with his head. He's all over the place!'

There was another silence; a much colder, and angry silence.

'You chose me over him, back with the Trogs. You came to help me, not him. He was my best friend, but I don't think he's gonna forgive me for that.'

Taken aback at the conviction, Diana couldn't think of a suitable reply, and Presto seemed to take her silence as confirmation of his theory. He turned away from her, trying unsuccessfully to hide the hurt expression

Diana gave a resigned smile. Was this gonna be her good deed for the day? Defending the Cavalier?

'Eric is your friend,' she told Presto. 'He was as worried about you as we were. And he doesn't blame you about what happened. And he doesn't hate you.'

He turned back, not speaking, but looked keenly at her. Her smile widened.

'He might hate Hank. And Dungeonmaster. And the Realm. But he doesn't hate you. Trust me on that one!'

Again, Presto gave her a rueful smile.

'They did have a pretty good showdown, didn't they,' he said.

'It was a good job we left when we did, I think they'd have come to blows! And Eric's been beaten up too often already!'

'You think Hank'd win?' he asked incredulously.

'Sure! You know Eric, he can't fight his way out of a wet paper bag!'

'Couldn't,' corrected Presto. 'I'm not so sure about that now.'

'I still say Hank would win, hands down,' said Diana firmly. The Magician still didn't look convinced. 'C'mon Presto! Hank's not the one who repeatedly gets carried off, is he!'

'Well…'

'And Eric isn't exactly cast in the heroic mould!'

Presto did smile properly at that.

'But he was funny as a Bogbeast!'

Diana grinned at him, nodding enthusiastically. Eric the Bogbeast was certainly one of the funniest things to happen in the Realm. And there was nothing like a little bit of harmless mocking of Eric to cheer everyone up!

The smile on Presto's face faded, but instead of looking miserable, he just looked thoughtful. He looked down at the Hat once more.

'Consequences,' he said with a sigh. 'I still don't understand.'

She gripped his arm, giving him a warm smile. 'You will. I know you will.'

He still didn't smile, but still had that wistful look on his face. There was silence for a short time.

'Do you miss Kosar?' he asked suddenly.

The question caught her totally off guard. If it had been anyone but Presto she wouldn't have bothered answering. But after the Temple of Love they understood that they shared the same pain. Both Kosar and Varla were forever out of reach. No one else understood the way she felt. The Magician didn't let it show very often, for fear of being teased, but he felt as much for the Illusionist as she had for Kosar.

She nodded, with the bitter thought that "miss Kosar" was too much of an understatement.

'I miss Varla,' said the Magician. 'It's weird, I only knew her for a few days, but it felt like I'd known her forever. I really miss her.'

Diana understood. She'd spoken to Sheila a few times, and the Thief had tried to help, but only Presto really knew what she was talking about.

'I still dream about him,' she murmured. 'I know, it's dumb but…'

The Magician gave her a consoling smile.

'I understand. I dream, too.'

'But dreaming won't bring him back.'

Presto didn't reply. They had all heard Dungeonmaster's words after Starfall, but they made no more sense now that they did at the time. There was always the hope that they would meet again. She had lived the past few months on that hope, and it was slowly beginning to fade. He wasn't going to return.

She looked at Presto, who was staring at the ground. No prizes for guessing who he was thinking about. Recognising the indefinable ache that was written all over his face, the Acrobat shuffled a little closer and put an arm round his shoulders.

They sat together in silence once more and the minutes passed quickly.

But before too long, Bobby appeared back, holding what looked like a chocolate bar, Uni trotting beside him with her muzzle smeared with food.

Giving Presto a reassuring smile, Diana moved her arm and waved at the Barbarian.

If he thought it was odd that she'd had her arm round the Magician's shoulders, he didn't say anything. Now, if it had been Eric, they would never have heard the end of it, but at least Bobby seemed to be able to see beyond the quick quip, and let it pass. He plopped himself down on the other side of Diana.

Again, they waited, listening to the sounds of the town, and Bobby chomping on the chocolate.

'The people here are real friendly,' said the Barbarian at last.

Looking back, she should have known something was going to happen; after all, they'd been in the Realm long enough to know that you don't tempt Fate like that. But at the time, she smiled back at the Barbarian and nodded in agreement.

'Yeah,' she replied. 'It's been fun.'

The words were hardly out of her mouth when she saw the man. She noticed him as soon as he set foot in the Square. He didn't look like the other townspeople, he was dressed in dark hunting robes, and a long, dark cape. There was something about his attire that reminded her of the strange supply shop she and Presto had seen, and she was going to mention it to the Magician. But the man walked right up to where they were sitting.

Uni backed away behind the Barbarian, frowning at the newcomer.

'You should come with me,' he said.

No greeting, no formalities, just a statement. Like they were gonna respond to that!

'Why?' demanded Diana. 'We've not done anything!'

'My Mistress wishes the pleasure of your company,' he said, not sounding particularly friendly. 'She wishes you to join her.'

Diana pulled a face.

'No way! We're waiting for our friends!'

The man glanced at their weapons, but still persisted.

'You will come with me. Now.'

Bobby was on his feet, the Club already glowing.

'Oh, yeah?' he said. 'Why would we do somethin' as dumb as that?'

'We already have one of you,' the man told them with a grim smile. 'And you wouldn't want anything nasty to happen to him, would you?'

Diana scowled. Goddamn that boy! She knew he wouldn't have stayed out of trouble. She was getting really, really sick of this happening! It would serve him right if they just left him too it this time!

'Just wait til I get my hands on that dumb Cavalier!' she snarled.

The man looked back, surprise on his face. Then he smirked.

'But it's your Ranger!'

* * *

He knew something was wrong the instant he awoke. He ached, his head was pounding and he could smell blood. Why was he like this, why was he feeling so bad? 

What had he done to end up here, wherever here was?

Screwing his eyes up, he tried to remember what had happened.

He and the Thief had parted company in the street, and Hank had watched her as she walked back towards the Square until she was out of sight. Then he'd wandered on further, down some roads and alleys, not going anywhere in particular.

Nothing much had happened, until after he'd turned back towards the Square.

The street was almost empty, and the three men came out of nowhere, dragging him off down one of the small alleys. Of course, he'd put a fight, a pretty decent one at that, but they were determined. And once the Bow had been yanked out of his hand, one of them struck him across the back of his head, hard.

He reached up, and touched the lump gently. That really hurt! He'd had his share of fights in the Realm, and back at school, but he'd never felt this bad before.

But that wasn't the worst of it. How could he have been stupid enough to get himself beaten up! Wasn't that Eric's usual trick? Why had he let his guard down and stopped paying attention? Why had he not seen this coming?

And what about the others? _What about Sheila?_

That wasn't a nice thought.

Maybe he could get out of there.

But it was difficult to tell where he was, as it was almost pitch black. There was a thin streak of light leaking in from under what seemed to be a door; and the room smelt strongly of dank grass. He tried to force the door, but it wouldn't move, and there seemed to be no other way out; no windows, no secret exits, and no one else to help.

He gave a resigned sigh.

'Guess I'm gonna have to sit and wait,' he muttered.

* * *


	4. Convergence

Chapter 4

Convergence

It was dark and uncomfortable in the Ranger's prison, the throb in his head didn't get any better, and he was finding it difficult to keep focused. Battering the door had only made his hands hurt, and kicking it hadn't helped either. There was nothing else to help him, and he was too distracted to think calmly about how else to escape. He'd worried for a while, and paced as the cell, measuring it out with his footsteps, trying to concentrate on making the time pass more quickly. But eventually he'd slumped down with his back to the door and just let his mind wander.

Instead of worrying about what was going to happen, or why he had been captured, there was only one thing (or rather, one person) he wanted to think about: Sheila. How could he not? They'd shared another wonderful, fantastic, mind-blowing kiss. She had said she loved him; the most beautiful girl in the Realm said she loved him too. He should be feeling on top of the world.

But he didn't. There was too much at stake here, they couldn't get involved. They shouldn't get involved, even thought they both wanted to. How was he going to get through each day without touching her, or holding her or kissing her? It had been difficult enough before, but now? He wasn't going to be able to keep this a secret for much longer.

And now he'd started to think about it, he couldn't stop himself from playing through the possibility that they became a couple, regardless of the dangers. He let his imagination run, and the fantasy increased in depth and detail, and he tried to second-guess what the others would do and say. Bobby would be pleased, Hank was sure. He and the Barbarian got on well, and Hank was sure that officially dating his sister wouldn't change that. Diana would probably be relieved that all the seeking around was over. She knew; she had known from the first time Hank had set eyes on Sheila. Yes, Diana would be glad for them (her experience with Kosar notwithstanding).

Presto was more difficult, and Hank was sure that, while he would be pleased, he wouldn't think that it was such a good idea; it was once bitten twice shy with him. He'd loved Varla from the instant they'd met, but he couldn't keep her. Like Diana, he understood the dangers of getting involved in this crazy place. The Magician would be worried about the stability of the group too, should anything go wrong between them (not that the relationship ever would go wrong, of course).

The damn Cavalier would just make life unbearable.

Well, he could live with that for the chance to be with the girl of his dreams. And if the Cavalier didn't like it, then he could just take a hike. No one would stop him. In fact, maybe it would be the last straw and they would be rid of him and all his stupid stunts once and for all! They wouldn't have to go on any rescue missions; they wouldn't have to give up on any more portals for him, they wouldn't have to put up with his moods and his sulks either.

That would be a lovely change. He could get used to them being Cavalier-free very, very easily; that damn Cavalier had caused so much trouble recently, and he'd been more annoying, more pig-headed and more arrogant than usual. Hank found it difficult to really dislike anyone, but the Cavalier was coming very close.

At the back of his mind was still the whisper of guilt, undeterred by the reassurances of earlier. And try as he might to ignore it, the whisper slowly grow stronger. Eventually, telling himself that Eric deserved what he got stopped working.

In the dark of this cell, he found himself going over exactly what had happened that day in the Troglodyte Lair, even though he'd tried not to think about it since. He could feel the shock and guilt at seeing Eric lying on the floor, dead to the world. But after the Cavalier had come round, they'd seen what he'd done: The Troglodyte Guard with a sword in its back. Dead. They'd never gone that far before. He'd never stepped over the line, not even with Venger. But Eric had. _Hadn't he? _Whatever Sheila might say, that Trog Guard was dead. But was it at Eric's hand?

Sitting here, it was simple to imagine what it would have been like for the unfortunate Cavalier at the hands of those Troglodytes. Hank shivered. Here, even though he was alone, he had no doubt that the others would come and help him. He was positive; he had been positive they would come to help him when he was stuck in the Darkling's Grotto too: The Cavalier hadn't had that luxury.

But even in those circumstances, if was almost impossible to believe that Eric would have killed. The words of Sheila came back to him. _He could barely stand up, let alone lift a sword! There had been other slaves, one of them must have come to help. _That would certainly explain it. Someone else had killed the guard, to save the Cavalier.

At first he denied the idea that Eric had been in that much danger, but considering the condition they'd found him in, it shouldn't have been too much of a surprise. Was a death the only way? And would he have been able to do it? To kill to save one of his friends? _Would he? What if it had been Sheila?_

A sudden lurch of fear gripped him, and he forced himself to think about something else.

Only going over that stupid argument with Cavalier earlier came close to banishing the thought of his Thief in trouble; and the pain turned to anger. It was obvious now, thinking back with the benefit of hindsight, that Eric had done it deliberately. Every sentence had been designed to make him angry, and to force them to go off without him.

Hank gave a small laugh. Things must be bad, if the Cavalier wanted time on his own!

His laughter stopped abruptly. Things must be really, really bad if Eric needed to be alone. There hadn't been many occasions when the Cavalier had shown any true weakness, and he'd never acted like this before. Well, he'd been arrogant, unbearable, annoying, callous and downright unpleasant before, but never so…

Hank tried to find the right word, and the only one that seemed to fit was "unhappy".

It was obvious to him now that the Cavalier was desperately unhappy.

At first glance, it was easy to see why. Only a few days before, he'd been poisoned by the Troglodyte and left for dead by his friends. Wasn't he entitled to be unhappy after an experience like that?

But that wasn't all, was it? For the past few weeks since they'd found the Box of Balefire, bad luck had dogged the Cavalier's steps. He could barely set foot in a new place without something going wrong. Was it such a surprise that he was so down about everything? Was it such a surprise that he was unhappy?

Guilt raised it head once more. Hank was the leader, he was responsible for all of them, through the rough and the smooth, through everything. Even if the Cavalier was insufferable, he was still one of the team.

_Your decisions did this, Hank. Don't forget that. You're the leader._

Yes. His decisions. Some of them couldn't have been avoided, but he'd made a serious error leaving Eric behind in the Troglodyte Lair. He'd let his anger and his personal feelings override his common sense. He'd had a mistake, but it was Eric who'd paid the price.

He closed his eyes tightly, but it didn't help. Alone, his head still thumping like a badly played drum, he could imagine what it was like, left behind; left behind by his friends; left behind by his friends to die; left behind by Hank to die…

It was a relief to hear footsteps from outside the door.

Shaking, the Ranger stood up as the door opened. He flinched at the sudden change from darkness to light but he could still make out the figure of a man standing in the doorway. Any thought of escape quickly vanished when he saw the sharp sword that was pointing directly at him, so Hank stepped forward, out of the dark.

His guard was a thin, fair-haired man, barely matching him in height, dressed in hunting green with two more bright, sickle-shaped knives tucked into his belt. He let the Ranger adjust to the change is light before taking a tight grip on his arm and leading him slowly away from the cells, giving Hank ample time to look around. There was nothing much to see, at least to start with. The prison seemed to be at the back of a camp, and behind him were flat grasslands.

They passed more buildings, like huts but not made of wood. There were all the sights and sounds of camp life (a life he easily recognised now), and all around were people looking busy. It was surprising there were so many people, and for a few moments, Hank was going to call out for help. But they were dressed in a similar manner to his guard, and some of them waved in greeting as they passed, so Hank decided to play along for now, rather than risk an escape when there were so many enemies around.

After about five minutes, the buildings seemed to change. There was no more bustle and activity; this was a quiet, contemplative kind of place, similar in atmosphere to the late Guild of Wizards in Kilan. They walked on, their pace quickening, but as they went further, Hank could feel another change. The air was filled with charge, like he was standing in a massive electric field. But it was a different sort of power. It was magic, but magic the like of which he had never seen or felt. His skin prickled as he walked.

Finally, they reached a high wooden wall with an iron gate. From the other side there were rumbling noises and the distinctive smell of fire.

His Guard stopped at the gate, and waited. Hank could sense the uneasiness of the other man, and in spite of his current predicament, he was burning with curiosity about what was on the other side of the wall.

The scraping sound of a lock turning came from the other side. The guard stepped back as the door swung open, and with a parting glare from the other man, Hank was pushed through the gate into the compound beyond.

_Dragons! As far as his eyes could see! _The sight captured his whole attention. Dragons, everywhere!

He had never even imagined this number of dragons in one place before; there might even be thousands of them. The whole place was a blur of scales and wings, and smoke covered the ground in a thin haze. The cages were magic of some kind; the bars gleamed with a fiery orange glow and didn't seem to be made out of any material Hank had ever seen. Most of the Dragons were in the centre of their pens, staying away from the bars.

There were several kinds he didn't recognise, some with bright colours, some muted and grey. Close to the gate there was a small Mercury Dragon, zooming around its cage like a manic fly. Beside it was a great, grey Steel Dragon that scowled as he was escorted past. Just beyond the Steel Dragon, Hank could see a much smaller animal, a rose red, with delicate pink wings the colour of a Realm sunrise. It seemed to be asleep.

But he didn't get the chance to take a better look. Another Guard took him by the arm and lead him forward at a much brisker pace. He tried to look back, but a certain curiosity about where he was going won over.

Within a minute, he was approaching a large, crimson tent, with golden tassels hanging round the door. Another two guards were standing outside, dressed like the others in hunting green but armed with curved scimitars.

The tent seemed out of place, as if it had only been erected recently. It was a strange place to choose, as well, so close to the dragons and under the shadow of the wall. His natural curiosity was piqued, and he felt a cool thrill of excitement, even though everyone was armed except him.

The tent was luxuriously decorated inside; thick plush rugs of scarlet and green; golden chairs and tables with elaborate designs and scrollwork that marked them out as of the foremost craftsmanship; gold ornaments of prodigious size that seemed to bend the shelves they were standing on; and thin, translucent green curtains decorated with figures of dragons. In the centre was a low table with a golden censer that had a thin stream of white smoke curling out of it, filling the tent with the faint smell of violet and musk.

As he was escorted through the door, he saw a figure move behind one of the green curtains. A man, dressed in a long, dark robe with a hood, stepped out.

In his arms were the weapons.

His first thought was to rush the man, grab the weapons and find the others, but there were the other guards to consider, and he cold still feel the effects of his last encounter with them. Also, how was he ever going to…

Hank's breath caught sharply in the back of his throat, he could see his Bow and the Club, and the Hat, and the Javelin too, but that was all. No Shield; but much more importantly, no Cloak.

As if to reaffirm his observation, there were the sound of raised voices outside, and he recognised the angry tones of the Acrobat. He turned.

Sure enough, the three other young Ones and the unicorn were escorted into the tent with three more guards (also armed with shiny swords). To Hank's surprise, Diana made straight for him, a look of tender concern on her face. She reached up to touch his cheek gingerly. Close by, someone gasped.

'Hank! What did they do to you?' she asked.

It was the first time in a long while he'd though about what he must look like. He'd fought to keep his freedom, and that must have left signs. The thumping ache in his head was still there. Presto, Bobby and Uni all gathered round him too, and he smiled, hoping to reassure them.

'I'm OK,' he said gruffly. 'Must look worse that it feels.' He paused. 'Where's…?'

He didn't dare say her name, but he took a surreptitious glance towards the man with their weapons, and raised his eyebrows. Diana shrugged.

'We haven't seen anyone else, only the guards. They brought us straight here from the town. Do you know what's going on? All those Dragons!'

Hank shook his head, eyeing the man in the robes once more. If they made a rush for the weapons, they might be able to overpower him. Then he saw the guards watching him, hands resting on the hilts of the swords. He couldn't risk it. He was the leader and had to keep them safe. The Guards that were watching them would expect something like that.

'Are you all OK?' he asked. 'Tell me what happened.'

There didn't seem to be much to tell. They didn't really have the choice, once they knew it was their Ranger who was being held. Hank wondered if they'd done the same if it had been Eric, again, but he quickly dismissed the thought. There was too much else to think about, to start _that_ again.

'That's it?' he said as she finished talking. 'Doesn't give us much of a clue!'

'Oh!' said Diana suddenly. 'But there was the shop, too! I'm sure there's a connection.'

'Shop?' asked Hank, a touch incredulously.

'It was a real creepy place,' said Presto. 'All it said on the front was "Supplies". But they wanted our weapons.' He cast a long glance across at the man, who was still holding them, silently. Hank followed the Magician's gaze.

'And now, I have them,' said a lilting voice from behind them.

Hank jumped at the sudden sound of the new voice, and whipped round. Standing in the doorway was another black-clad person, similar in shape and size to the other. But the Ranger knew this one was female from the tone of her voice.

The newcomer walked round, towards her friend with the weapons before turning and tipping her hood back.

The lady Hank saw was truly beautiful; perfection in every single way. She had long auburn tresses, the colour of gold touched by the rosy pink of dawn, and had small, dark green leaves threaded though as if she was wearing a crown. Her eyes were the colour of his own, a cool blue; her face was narrow, and her eyebrows slanted upwards, giving her a cold, superior expression. She was tall and slender like a young tree, with dark robes that seemed to give her a sweeping elegance.

He didn't speak. Her cold gaze swept slowly up from his scuffed and muddy boots, over his legs and armoured tunic to his shoulders and jaw-line and face. Then she looked into his eyes.

Hank had to look away after only a fraction of a second; but in that time he realised what she was: This Lady was an Elf!

Finally, after all this time in the Realm they had met one of the illusive Elves! They had heard whispers about them from time to time, the wondrous Elves of the Realm. Beautiful, clever, magical, always spoken of with awe. He'd always hoped to meet one, and knew Presto had too; he was such a big Fantasy fan. But the excitement was muted by the circumstances of their meeting. She was obviously in charge, and had captured them for a purpose. In the back of his mind, there was something uncomfortable, something not right. _Elves are good creatures…aren't they?_

The silence continued and he could feel the piercing stare still on him. He longed to look up and stare back at her, but the though of looking onto those cold eyes was not appealing.

'Welcome, Ranger. And welcome to you all.' Her voice was as cold as her gaze, and Hank felt less welcome than before she'd spoken. But politeness demanded that he respond, so he looked back in her direction, avoiding her eyes, and gave a slight, stilted bow.

'Where are the other young Heroes? The Cavalier. The Thief.'

The bluntness of the question took him by surprise, but the quixotic nature of the Elves was well known in the Realm. There was a stern air about her, as if she would tolerate no delay; and was doing them a small favour, at great inconvenience to herself, by asking it.

'I don't know,' he answered. She didn't seem to believe him, so he quickly took the opportunity to keep her talking. 'Who are you?'

The Elf look insulted that he didn't know and said:

'I am the High Priest of the Druids of Apsu. Where is the Cavalier, and the Thief?'

She seemed to be getting angry with him, but whether it was for asking questions, or not answering, he couldn't tell. In the back of his mind, Hank was vaguely hurt that Eric was named before Sheila, but that didn't change the answer.

'We don't know,' echoed Diana. 'We haven't seen them since the town.'

The Elf ignored her, and kept looking at Hank.

'What's goin' on?' demanded Bobby. 'Whaddya want with my sister?'

This time, the Elf did react, glaring at the Barbarian with such intensity that he seemed to stagger.

'I would have thought,' she said, lifting her gaze to address Hank once more, 'that it would be obvious. I want their weapons. In the town, they couldn't find your pretty little Thief. Or your Cavalier.' The way she spat the title out surprised him. It looked like someone else was angry with Eric too, but he couldn't understand why. 'When you came to the shop, I knew I could not let the opportunity for all six slip past.'

Diana gave Hank a small, rueful shrug, as if to apologise for going to the shop in the first place, and he smiled back with a nod. It wasn't her fault, or Presto's. This place; things like that always happened in this place!

'Why do you want our weapons?' he asked.

The woman smiled, as if she'd been awaiting that question. Her fist clenched and red fire was suddenly wreathed round it. By the baleful red light, the Elf looked even more radiant and powerful.

'You've taken their power!' whispered Presto. 'You've taken it all!'

Hank stared at the weapons. They didn't seem any different to him! But the ugly smile on the woman's face confirmed what Presto had said. There was the strangest feeling inside him as he looked at the Bow, as if he should be able just to call out to it and everything would be ok. It was his Bow; and for a moment he was almost going to march right up and take it back. It was wrong to have the weapons like that. He hated being without the Bow.

'I can do that, and much, much more,' said the Elf, staring at him. 'While I keep them, the magic belongs to me, to do with what I will! And I want the other weapons. Tell me where they are!'

'I've said, I don't know where they are,' replied Hank, fighting against the rising wave of fear and panic. They were weaponless. Again!

She pointed at him, and a bolt of red magic suddenly slammed into his chest, knocking him to the ground. He slowly struggled upright with Presto and Diana helping him, not in pain but very disorientated, as if he'd just been awoken from a very deep sleep.

The Elf was watching them, almost daring him to repeat the answer.

'All the others have been seen in Dragorlin, except the Cavalier,' she said. 'Where is he? Where is your Cavalier?'

_Why Eric? Why not Sheila…_ he thought. _And what's happened to her?_

The last time he'd seen her was after that kiss… that perfectly wonderful kiss. She said she would go back to the others. But she never got there. _What happened to her?_

'Your pretty little Thief could be anywhere,' said the High Priest, seeming to sense what he was thinking.. 'But there's little she can do. I'm more concerned about the Cavalier.'

The Ranger couldn't help the even more incredulous look he gave the Elf. This was stretching belief to the limit: Someone considered the Cavalier a threat? Why! It was unnerving to him that she dismissed Sheila so easily. She was the one who was more intelligent, more useful than the Cavalier. She was the strong one.

The Elf raised her hand once more.

Beside him, Diana started forward.

'We left him behind,' said the Acrobat, embarrassed. 'We left him in a clearing in the forest.'

'You left him behind?'

The question resonated with Hank. Yet again, he had left the Cavalier behind. Alone. When was he going to learn?

The woman had turned to her guard.

'Take all the Hunters! Search the forest and get the Shield away from him.'

With that statement, something clicked inside Hank. It wasn't the Cavalier, it was the Shield she was worried about! It was what Eric could do with the Shield! And that's why she didn't' really care that much about Sheila; the Cloak's invisibility only hid her; the Shield could be used to protect anyone! _That was it!_

And that was why she had drained the other weapons of their magic. She wanted to be sure they couldn't use them… _Why? _He had to figure out why! He looked at the Bow again. Was it his imagination, or was it trying to call out to him? Hank shook his head. He must be going nuts to think that!

He watched as the Guard gave a hasty bow and leave, and saw Diana and Presto exchanged anxious looks. For a moment, the Ranger was worried that she'd have them sent back the cells, but the Elf was ignoring them now, as if she had all the information she needed.

But Hank was thinking about their next move. These Druids collected Dragons, kept them locked up in magic cages. The weapons were from the Dragon's Graveyard. Perhaps that was enough to give them some advantage over the Elf. He wanted to talk to Diana and Presto, to see what they thought of his logic, but they were still being watched, and he had no doubt that the Elf would overhear. Instead, he tried to think up reasons why all the Dragons were in one place; how they were being kept; and what the High Priest was waiting for.

Then, quite suddenly, there was the sound of running from outside and a guard burst through the door. Hank's heart sank: _They'd found the Shield._

'Mistress! Mistress!' the man gasped. 'The Dragon! She's been seen!'

Hank very nearly smiled. But he saw the look of both terror and excitement on the Elf's face, and the smile died on his lips.

_Dragon?_ There was only one Dragon that could cause that reaction…

Tiamat: the Dragon Queen!

* * *

_Some things never change_, he thought.

Eric was feeling sick again. He was never going to eat dragonberries again in his life. Not only that, he was also feeling distinctly light-headed, as if he'd had too much caffeine or not enough sleep.

After creeping back from the cliff, he'd sat on the ground to think. The young Golden Dragon had curled up around him so he could lean back, its head resting on the Shield near his hand and its whiplash tail wriggling around like a snake in the grass.

The seat and the think hadn't helped. There didn't seem to be any way of helping, a bitter truth to acknowledge. There were hundred of Dragons down there, maybe even thousands. Even if he could find the other Golden Dragon, he would never be able to get it out; there seemed to be red, glowing bars holding the animals down. Those were magic bars, and there wasn't a lot he could do against those! The Club or the Bow would have worked, even the Hat or the Javelin. But the Shield wasn't gonna break them!

_What was he going to do?_

The Dragon had closed its eyes, and he petted it on the snout, surprised that something that could breath fire could be so cold. Funny, the things that happened in the Realm. When they'd first arrived here, he would never have thought that he would be sitting beside a big, sleepy dragon, quite happy and untroubled by the fact that it could easily have bitten him in two, if it wanted to.

He could remember the trip to the Giant's Castle very clearly, and the annoyance he'd felt at being lumbered with the huge golden egg. But later, as they waited until dawn, he'd been quite proud of the way the Mother Dragon had regarded him as an equal. It had felt good to have someone (are dragons someones?) look at him like that. He'd felt bad having to leave, even though he'd rather have died than admit that to the others. The baby Dragons had been kind of cute!

Now, it trusted him to help. It expected him to do something. And soon! _What was he going to do?_

Suddenly, with an unnatural speed and ferocity, the Dragon's head snapped up, its eyes glinting and a whisper of smoke at its nostrils. It froze in an alert position so, in spite of his surprise, Eric stayed still too, and waited.

For more than a minute, he waited, hardly breathing. He couldn't hear or see anything out of the ordinary. Then there came the faint sound of something moving through the trees, the swish of branches and the occasional soft crack of a stick.

Someone had followed them.

As the noise came closer, Eric moved to pick up the Shield. Still the Dragon waited. But its expression was different, not so alarmed as surprised.

Then there was a tired gasp from the trees.

'Eric! Oh, Eric, thank goodness I've found you!'

Sheila was standing there, pulling the hood of her Cloak back, and looking exhausted and unsteady. He hauled himself off the ground as quickly as possible and moved forward. She didn't faint, as he'd thought, but instead she fell into his arms crying like there was no tomorrow. For a long while she kept crying, unable to explain coherently what was going on. All the time a cold, empty fear grew inside the Cavalier. Something had happened. Something bad. Something really bad. Something really, really bad. Something terrible…

'Hey,' he said eventually, trying to sound as cheerful as possible. 'What's happened? It can't be that bad?'

She looked up, the expression on her face almost breaking his heart. What a damn stupid thing to go and say!

'Hank's been… hurt,' she whispered, fresh tears running down her cheeks.

Of all the thing she could have said, that was one of the most painful. He winced as he thought back to the argument earlier. He shouldn't have been so pig-headed, or deliberately picked a fight with Hank. He should have tried to be a bit nicer. It wasn't Hank's fault that everyone hated him, he had just been in the line of fire.

_If you'd been with us, this wouldn't have happened._ That's what she was thinking. He'd gone and screwed up. Yet again! How many more times would they keep forgiving him for messing things up?

It was stupid, but he couldn't help it; tears prickled in the back of his eyes. He'd made a real mess of things this time, and now the others would never forgive him for letting them all down. Why did he keep doing this?

Sheila's desperate expression forced those thoughts away. Somehow, he had to pull himself together enough to help.

'Tell me what happened?' he asked.

'We were attacked in the Town,' she said dabbing her eyes dry with a corner of the Cloak. 'It had seemed so nice and peaceful. We split up. Hank and I went for a walk… together.' The pause between the last two words was significant enough to let him know that they hadn't just been "walking".

'And…?'

'We split up after… awhile,' she said. 'I started back towards the town square to meet the others, but I changed my mind and went to look for him. But when I saw him…' she sniffed again. 'He was surrounded by these people in robes and…'

From behind him, there was a sharp hiss.

'Druid-type robes?' asked Eric.

Sheila nodded.

'Yes, they had to drag him off, he fought and… and… they hit him. I saw blood... and... I ran to get help from the others, but there was a man there too, and they were already leaving. So I came to find you.'

'As a last resort?' He didn't say it with bitterness, but Sheila's cheeks coloured slightly.

'As the only one who can help,' she said. 'Unless Dungeonmaster appears and…'

'Forget him!' Eric told her. 'He's not gonna show up and get us out of this. You should know that by now!'

She opened her mouth as if to argue, but didn't say anything, perhaps because she knew he was right. Instead, the Thief glanced down at the ground then back up, towards the Golden Dragon, who'd stood watching the exchange with great interest.

'I was so worried when I got to the clearing and you weren't there,' she said. 'I didn't know what to think.'

_I thought you'd left us,_ was what she really meant, he knew but he was grateful she didn't say it. He was embarrassed and ashamed enough as it was.

'Well, I bumped into an old friend,' he said, smiling at the Golden Dragon. 'C'mere and say "Hi"!'

The creature obediently moved forward and dunted Sheila's hand when she held it out.

'It's lost its brother and wanted my help,' he explained. 'Some weirdo Druids have been kidnapping dragons, the same weirdo Druids that got Hank and the others, I think. How many weirdo Druids can there be around here, anyway!'

'So they have Hank and the others, and her brother. What are we gonna do?'

Eric said nothing, the familiar panic beginning in his chest. This was all going to go wrong. Desperately, he thought back to what Dungeonmaster had told them: _You will face a test of Strength, but a trial of weakness._ How could that possibly help? He forced a smile out.

'Looks like it's gonna be Eric and Sheila to the rescue. Again.'

Sheila managed to smile back.

'And don't forget her!' said the Thief, petting the Dragon once more.

'Uh?' _Her?_ Above the panic, the usual embarrassment grew. He'd done it again.

'She's a "she", not an "it", Eric!' explained Sheila.

'Well, of course, naturally, I knew, but…' he spluttered, his face flushed.

The young Dragon was looking at him, "her" expression exactly matching that of Sheila.

'Oh, crap!' he said at last. 'You two are gonna gang up on me! Can my day get any worse?'

There was a pause as Eric and Sheila stared at each other, but the words were out now. Above was the soft swish of wind, and they all looked up.

Tiamat soared overhead.

'You just had to say it!' whispered Sheila.


	5. Regeneration

Chapter 5

Regeneration

There was no mistaking her. Tiamat the Dragon Queen soared overhead and rose higher, circling slowly round the dragon-filled encampment. Eric and Sheila watched as she flew, surveying the scene from a safe altitude for a few minutes, then she retreated, flying back the way she'd come.

The Cavalier looked at the Thief, then the Golden Dragon and back to the sky.

'Tiamat's not gonna be away for long? Is she?'

His female companions both shook their heads. They were looking at him, and seemed to expect him to say something else. 'What are we gonna do?'

'Those Druids will want Tiamat too,' said Sheila. 'I mean, they've got almost every other Dragon in the Realm, why not her.'

Eric nodded, a deep frown across his face.

'It's gonna take some pretty amazing magic to capture her,' he said slowly. 'Venger could never do it.'

'Dragons,' the young Dragon hissed at him. 'Take. Magic.'

She was looking anxious, and kept pawing at the ground impatiently with that act-now-think-later look on her face that reminded him of the Barbarian. She was obviously desperate to do something.

'You mean they'll have taken the magic of the Dragons?' he asked, already fearing the answer. 'All of them?' The Dragon nodded, and seemed pleased he understood her. 'And that's bad, isn't it?'

She nodded once more.

He was afraid of this. Whoever they were up against had much, much more power and strength than they did; maybe if they had Presto and the Hat, they could have done something. But as it was, it seemed hopeless. There was no way they could do anything.

'But Eric,' said Sheila in a small voice, 'if they do manage to capture Tiamat, they'll take her magic too, and they'll be… they'll be…' The Thief couldn't continue, so Eric helped her out.

'The word you want is "unstoppable",' he said with a cold smile.

The Dragon gave a sharp, angry hiss, like a cornered cat, to show her displeasure at that suggestion.

'We've gotta do something!' said Sheila. 'Tiamat could be back any second. We've gotta help!'

They were both looking at him, expecting him to know what to do. _C'mon, Eric!_ he thought. _Think of something! What would Hank do?_

An image flashed through his mind, of the Ranger standing in the same position, giving orders like an old pro, with the two females looking adoringly up at him. He scowled and looked out across the plane below, only one thought on his mind. It didn't really matter that he had no idea what to do: They were too far away to help.

'Eric!'

He snapped round to look at the Thief. Her face was pale and she had that familiar look of worry. Beside her, the Dragon had begun to pace.

'We've gotta go and help,' said Sheila decisively. 'C'mon Eric!'

'And just how are we gonna get there?' he snapped at her. 'Even if we ran, it would still take us an hour to get down the cliff! What do you suggest? Ask them for a time-out!'

Sheila had no reply.

The Dragon was looking up to the sky, sensing the imminent arrival of the Queen of the Dragons. She had pulled away from them and was obviously going to leave, regardless of the danger. If he left her on her own, she would probably end up as barbequed Dragon! Or worse!

Suddenly, Eric knew what they had to do. It was completely crazy, it was possibly the craziest thing he'd ever thought up, and if he delayed he would never have the guts to carry it through. Grabbing Sheila by the hand, he ran up to the Golden Dragon.

'We need a lift!' he said to her.

The Dragon looked doubtfully at him. Sheila seemed to be of the same mind.

'She can't fly with both of us,' she said. 'We're too heavy.'

Eric moved to the Dragon's side, pushed himself up and swung his leg over her back.

The Dragon staggered.

'Oh! Don't hurt her!' said Sheila, sounding genuinely worried. But the Dragon gave a light hiss, like laughter.

'Funny!' said Eric shortly, trying to get comfortable. 'Come on!'

With a little help, Sheila clambered up behind him.

'But we still can't fly!'

'We're not gonna be flying,' said Eric, trying to sound calm. 'With a little luck those Druid bozos will be so concerned about Tiamat they won't see us.'

'"See us" do what?' whispered Sheila.

The Dragon turned round to look at him, the fear he felt mirrored in the young creature's eyes. There were only Dungeonmaster's words – _A test of strength and a trial of weakness…_He still didn't understand what it mean; he'd never been that good at figuring out the riddles. He'd just have to hope he was doing the right thing.

'Like I said, we need a lift!' he told the Thief. 'But just remember, it's not falling, it's gliding!'

Sheila gulped, her eyes wide, and she grabbed on to his waist tightly.

'And what are we gonna do when we get to the ground?'

He flashed a smile at her, and turned back to face the front, completely ignored the question. They could worry about that later.

If there was a later…

* * *

'She was overhead, then she retreated, Mistress,' gasped the Guard. 'When she returns…'

The man left the sentence hanging deliberately.

'Tiamat.' The Elfwoman's voice was a whisper of promise and relief. 'Finally, she has come to me, to face her doom.'

Hank stared at the Elf, confusion and worry mingled together. He'd never have though Elves were given to gloating, but the look on that woman's face was as close to gleeful relief as he'd ever seen. Beside him, the others were looking round at each other, confused as well. Diana looked up at him, her expression summing up exactly how he felt.

The Elf was looking purposefully out of the tent door, ignoring them, but still he had to ask, even if there was only a very slim chance she would reply.

'What do you mean?' he asked.

The Elf continued to stare forward, as if enchanted. When she replied, her voice was still a whisper.

'She will be destroyed. Once and for all time. She will be gone.'

A strange feeling of fear filled the Ranger. _Destroying Tiamat, well, she was the Queen of Dragons, and Evil… or at least not Good… or maybe just Neutral…_ but there was something more important than that. With Tiamat gone, there would be nothing to stop Venger! The Dragon Queen was the one and only thing in the Realm the Arch-Mage was afraid of; with her destruction, Venger would be free to rule the Realm.

The cold chill inside got worse. Surely, the Elf must know this, so why…

At that instant, she turned, her eyes blazing.

'The Dragon is Evil, and cruel, and an enemy of all that is good. She will be destroyed! And when there is nothing left by charred bones, we will have had our revenge!'

Hank continued to stare at the Elf in horror. She really was going to kill the Dragon Queen, regardless of the consequences.

'Why?'

The question was more to himself than anything else, yet she still answered.

'There are only eleven of us left,' she said, her voice shaking. 'Eleven Elves out of all the vast kingdoms, survived: by chance, or cunning, or skill. And so, I must avenge the fallen. I MUST!'

The pain in her voice brought a lump to his throat. Who knows what Evil had been done before they reached the Realm, and maybe killing the Dragon Queen was justified, but what about Venger! He hadn't shown himself for weeks, but he'd been banished, not destroyed. He was still out there, waiting for his chance; and with Tiamat gone he would get his chance, very, very quickly!

Beside him, Diana grasped his arm and he turned to look at her, seeing tears in here eyes. She understood too well what was in store. Behind, Presto and Bobby were looking pale and shocked, and Uni let out a quiet whine. Of all things, this was not what he'd expected.

The woman turned to face them, no sign of emotion showing on her face.

'But now I see that it is only fitting that you should witness her destruction,' said the Elf. 'You keep seeing her, yes?' Hank had to nod. So many people knew so much about them; it was starting to get really annoying. 'Have you never wondered why? There are people in this Realm who live well over 200 years and will never see the Queen of Dragons once. But you and your friends have seen her, how many times? Six? Ten? More?'

Hank nodded slowly. He'd never really thought about it.

'She is attracted to the power of your weapons, Ranger,' explained the Elf. 'Though they are your weapons; though they are part of your very being, they are still Dragon-Borne. With those in my possession, the balance tipped in my favour and the compulsion was too strong to ignore.'

That managed to make him feel worse. With their weapons as the lure for the Dragon Queen, her death would be on their conscience. And when Venger discovered what had happened…

He couldn't continue that train of thought; he didn't dare.

The Elf had turned to the Guards.

'Escort them to the altar, that they may observe her destruction.'

_What were they going to do?_

* * *

Eric had his eyes tightly closed. The cliff edge was only a metre away, one step and they were going to drop all the way down.

He wished he didn't have to wait.

He wished he could just get it over with; right now, not this terrible waiting. His nerve just wasn't going to hold. _He should be running for dear life, not sitting here waiting to be a Cavalier pancake. He should…_

He tightened his grip round the neck of the Dragon, making sure the Shield on his arm wasn't digging into her and trying to believe he was doing the right thing. Behind, he could hear the Thief's short, shallow breaths.

He was insane for suggesting it.

And if by some miracle they survived, Hank was gonna killing him for endangering Sheila like this. Perhaps he should leave her behind; but she'd never agree to that, so maybe he'd have to trick her into getting back to the ground. Perhaps…

There was no chance to think, as the sound of rushing wings caught his attention and he had to open his eyes and look up.

Tiamat, the Dragon Queen soared through the light grey clouds, descending towards the camp at high speed.

The Golden Dragon moved too, and he got a sudden, sick vision of the vertiginous drop they faced. He heard Sheila's muffled cry of terror but, in the final second before they moved, instead of the usual fear, he felt overwhelmingly relieved that he didn't have to face this alone.

* * *

The Ranger and the others had been hustled past cages apon cages of immobilised Dragons, he'd given up trying to count them, or even keep track of all the different kinds. He could feel the deep, crushing anger of these creatures, and sense the weight of their baleful stares.

Now, the four of them and the unicorn were standing together, almost forgotten, at the centre of the whole complex; an area of wide, open space ringed by the cages of the largest and most powerful Dragons. Close by, the Elf was standing alone, before her was a large, red crystal set in an ornate mount of grey stone. Inside the crystal there were swirls of light, and the more Hank watched it, the more it seemed to be winking at him.

'I guess that's where all the magic is,' Diana whispered to him, nodding her head towards the crystal. 'How are we gonna get it out and back into our weapons, where it belongs?'

Hank turned to look at Presto, who stood on his other side. The Magician shrugged.

'I dunno what to do,' he said glumly. 'If we could break it, or something, then maybe the magic could escape.'

That didn't sound like much of a plan, but Hank didn't say so in front of Presto, sensing the Magician's insecurity.

'But I don't have my Club,' added Bobby in an overloud whisper. 'We've got no weapons!'

'Could we do it without the weapons?' asked the Acrobat.

Hank hesitated then shook his head.

'I don't think she would have been that careless,' he said. 'Besides, it's full of magic.'

'If only I had my Javelin,' murmured Diana.

'Or if I had my Club,' said Bobby with a sigh.

Hank opened his mouth, but he didn't speak. Something at the back of his mind was starting to make sense. The Elf: Something the Elf had said was vitally important, and he'd not recognised it at the time. It was something about the weapons.

_Get the Shield away from the Cavalier…_what else had she said? _Part of you, part of your very being…_ She was only worried about the kids and the weapons together; like the Cavalier AND the Shield. Maybe that was why she'd stripped them of their power so quickly, and all that "tipping the balance" talk had been a lie. He didn't really believe that just the magic of the weapons had changed things so much. After all, the power of these Dragons was immense compared to the Javelin or his Bow.

_My Bow,_ he thought. _My weapon. It's mine._

He looked at the red crystal, staring into its depths as the light flickered inside it, then glanced toward his Bow. Maybe just getting the weapons back would be enough to reverse whatever she'd done to them. The weapons belonged to them, they were the rightful owners and if they took them back, they could make her give the stolen magic back too. He wasn't sure about the way magic worked, but he knew the magic of the Dragons and the magic of the weapons were connected. And he knew his friends and their weapons were connected too.

_A test of strength… _

Perhaps that was what their Guide had meant. If he was strong enough, he could do it. It seemed so deceptively simple: If he was strong enough, then he could take his weapon back. And it was only an assumption, and a very dangerous assumption at that. If he failed, he had no doubt the Elf would make very sure he never had the chance to try it again. _While I keep them, the magic belongs to me, to do with what I will!_ That was what she'd told him. Well, if she didn't have the weapons, she wouldn't have their magic, that was the inescapable conclusion!

A heart-rending cry came from the clouds, and everyone, bar Hank, looked up expecting to see Tiamat.

His mind filled with purpose, Hank stayed watching the Druids.

Not far away from the Elfwoman, on the other side of the clearing, the Druid attendant stood holding their weapons. Just seeing at his Bow helped to make up his mind. He was going to get his Bow back!

All he needed now was the chance to try.

* * *

He had gone to the amusement park that fateful day for the thrill of the new rollercoaster ride; but nothing in his life, before or after, would ever match those few seconds of freefall.

Behind him, Sheila gave a high-pitch wail of terror, but Eric said nothing; his vocal chords were frozen with shock. The world whirled past in a slew of blurred colours, and it was all he could do not to be sick.

Then the Dragon turned slightly, and gravity snapped back on. His arms suddenly ached as they pulled out of the dive and he struggled to keep hold of the Dragon's neck. Sheila tightened her grip round his waist, but he could feel her tip to one side. He didn't dare move to help her or they would both fall for sure.

'ERIC! I'm slipping!'

The Golden Dragon had started to list to the right, and they were losing height quickly. He could feel the young Dragon straining to breathe, and the wing beats were definitely slowing. He didn't dare move his grip, though Sheila was sliding further, pulling him off as well.

His arms ached; he was being torn in two. He wasn't strong enough to hold on.

The Dragon pulled to the left, in a desperate effort to correct herself and stop them slamming sideways into the ground. For a couple of seconds, the weight was taken off his arms, and he grabbed Sheila's wrist and tried to pull her back to safety.

But the ground was coming up very, very fast.

* * *

As Tiamat appeared through the clouds, a frightened silence descended on the camp. The Dragons in their cages cowered to the ground, and all the Druids seemed to take a simultaneous step back; all except the Elf.

She looked up to the sky and raised her hand to the crystal.

The Dragon swooped down in a slow, almost lazy fashion, much to Hank's astonishment. She circled over the camp and landed right in front of the crystal, her huge wings flapping slowly.

'What have you ssss-done, Elf-ff,' she hissed. 'Ssss-Free them!'

Instead of replying, the woman raised her hand, pointing at the Dragon Queen, and a sharp burst of red light coalesced round her hand. A fraction later, Tiamat was struggling to remain where she was as the magic burned around her.

The Dragon Queen fought, clawing at the red light that was enveloping her, ripping it away to the ground. But it took time, and obviously a lot of her own strength to do.

And now the Elfwoman was smiling.

'What have you done, Elf-ff?' spat the Dragon once she was free. 'What ssss-have you DONE?'

Hank watched in fear as the Elf's façade of calm broke.

'Your death is what I want, spawn of Nergal!' she cried. 'Death and Vengeance!'

Magic light poured out of the crystal again, but this time Tiamat struggled more obviously; the clawing became much more frantic. It took almost a minute for her to free herself.

Hank's heart was thumping. If he was going to carry out his plan, it would have to be very soon. He leaned towards Diana.

'When I make a move, get your weapon,' he whispered. 'Do what you have to, but get it.'

She looked back, confused, but he only smiled. _A test of strength…_

The Acrobat nodded, a new look of confident determination on her face. The look comforted Hank; he could always rely on Diana to get the job done.

As the last shreds of magic fell from the Dragon and she gave a furious roar. But she was exhausted, now too weak to flee or fight. Hank tensed himself for the last, and probably terminal blast of magic from the crystal. But instead, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something moving.

Something yellow.

Something shiny.

* * *

It wasn't really what he could call a landing, but at least they didn't hit the ground with any real force. The Thief was knocked off, but somehow Eric managed to keep a hold as the Dragon slid to a halt.

He turned to see Sheila, covered in dust, pushing herself up slowly.

_Thank God she's ok! Hank would have killed me! _

Then he realised where they were. They were surrounded by Dragons! Fortunately, the Dragons were in cages, but still! He caught sight of a huge, ancient Red Dragon glaring furiously at them, and a small Bronze Dragon in the cage next to it.

_We made it all the way to the camp! _he thought in surprise. _Wow, what a flight!_

There was a sudden roar of anger and he glanced round to see Tiamat ahead of them, with wisps of red magic falling away from her.

He never got the chance to do anything, as the Dragon reacted first. With a howl, she sprang forward, taking Eric with her.

* * *

The Elf saw it too, something shiny yellow hurtling towards them.

It was a Golden Dragon!

The woman lifted her hand and sent a blast of magic towards the incoming Dragon, but instead of enveloping it, it merely bounced off.

Hank didn't watch the rest. It was just the chance he needed. As the Elf concentrated on the Dragon and everyone else was watching, the Ranger sprinted forward.

* * *

The blast of magic almost knocked him off, and made his arm go numb. But the Golden Dragon didn't stop. Well, he wasn't sure if it was "didn't" or "couldn't" at that point. He wasn't actually sure of anything.

Ahead he saw some people, some Dragons and something that glowed a bright red. He could also see Tiamat, the Queen of all the Dragons and she was looking at him with five identical expressions that _might_ have been haughty amusement; but that was possibly just his paranoia!

The Golden Dragon was heading straight of the source of the magic; the strange, glowing crystal, and it was clear to Eric that that was a hugely bad idea. But there was nothing he could do to stop her, it was almost like she couldn't help herself.

There was another blast of cold, red magic, and again, it bounced harmlessly off his Shield. It was much more powerful than the last one, and Eric realised that he couldn't keep this up forever. He caught sight of a dark-clad woman, with fire round her hands, pointing at them. Yet the Dragon still didn't slow down.

But behind her was the most wonderful sight he'd ever seen. His heart leaped as he saw Hank and Diana sprinting towards their own weapons, ignored by everyone else.

Then the third blast of magic hit.

* * *

The Druid guard realised what was happening only fraction of a second before they reached him. He tried to jump back, get out of their way, but Diana tackled him to the ground before he could step back. Hank grabbed his Bow as Presto, Bobby and Uni ran up to take their own weapons.

Once it was in his hand, Hank had instant doubts. It felt cold, and empty, and his brilliant plan seemed dumb. No matter how strong he thought he was, this was ridiculous!

Suddenly there was an almighty whumping noise from behind him, and he turned to see the Golden Dragon lying limply in front of the crystal, red tongues of magic flicking over its body. But even more surprising that than, he saw the Cavalier lying next to it, sluggishly pushing himself off the ground.

Hank had to do a double take, but then he smiled. Trust the ol' Cavalier to show up, just in time to get himself into deep, deep trouble! There was something reassuring in the way Eric managed to get himself into these situations.

'You?' hissed the Elf 'You dare to try and stop me?'

Eric was looking at her as if he hadn't the faintest idea what she was talking about, a look Hank was very familiar with.

'Very well!' the Elf continued. 'I will take your Shield and finish this!'

Hank acted almost on instinct. The doubts were gone. All he had to do was claim the weapon. It was his Bow, after all and it was in his hand, ready to use.

'This is MY Bow!' he said clearly. His hand tightened round it, and he looked down at its familiar surface. He knew ever line and scratch. He knew its shape and its form, and the magic that powered it; the magic of Heroes. 'This is my Bow.'

He watched, holding his breath, as a thin line of magic streamed out of the crystal and wrapped itself round the Bow. It was working! Their _trial of strength; _it was gonna work!

Following his lead, Diana echoes his words for her own weapon. Then Presto. Then Bobby.

The Elf had turned and was staring at them and the four streams of magic, her mouth open in total shock. On the ground, Eric had the same look on his face too.

It only took a few seconds, and it was done. The Bow had its magic back, he didn't need to test it, he just knew. And the Elf knew too, judging by the look on her face.

So, before she could turn the remaining magic against them, he drew an arrow, and fired.

But the crystal just absorbed the energy, and didn't break. _Damn it! What is it that we've gotta do!_

Bobby ran forward, but the Club bounced off the crystal. The Elf started to laugh.

Impotent anger surged through the Ranger. They'd done all they could, but even that wasn't enough! What else was there?

'Presto…' said someone. _Eric._

The Cavalier was looking straight past Hank, directly at the Magician.

'Do something!' he said. 'Presto…!'

Presto hesitated, looking down at his friend with an expression of confusion and fear. But only for a second. He lifted the Hat and said:

'_Abraca-dabra; my re-powered old Hat: We need some help, for Tiamat!_'

As the last word left his lips, there was total silence. Slowly, as if from a great distance, there came a roar, like the sound of a huge, high waterfall. It grew, becoming deeper and more resonant with every passing second. Hank could feel it through his chest, making it hard to breathe. What ever Presto had summoned, it was huge!

The wind picked up, growing as the noise increased, but no one moved. He was starting to think no one could move, when he saw a hint of lilac racing towards them. She was looking shaken and dirty, but Sheila was running straight to him; straight into his arms.

She was breathless, and gulped down air and he tried not to hold her too tightly. But as much as he wanted to hold her forever, something was happening behind Tiamat.

The Dragon Queen was slumped on the ground, her red head drooping downwards. Behind her, something was materialising.

It was indeed gigantic. Tiamat had looked huge, but this was at least twice her size. It was blue, with cobalt coloured wings that covered the camp in shadow. Hank knew, even before he'd counted the three heads, who this was. He recognised him from the Statue in Dragorlin. It was Apsu, the King of the Dragons!

The mighty Dragon King lowered his middle head, opened his mouth and roared.

A blast of sound came out so deep and loud that Hank was knocked off his feet, landing in a heap with Sheila beside him. No one stayed standing, including the Dragons.

The sound continued and Hank saw the crystal starting to vibrate, and the Elf desperately trying to claw her way upright to get to it.

But she was too slow.

The noise stopped abruptly and the crystal shattered. Hank covered his eyes as a wave of magic swept past.

When he looked up, Apsu was gone.

The crystal was in pieces on the ground, and the Elf was sitting, tears streaming down her face just beside it. All round there was no magic, only some very, very, VERY annoyed Dragons, suddenly freed and suddenly very close by! All Hell was about to break loose!

'RUN!' he bellowed above the noise of roars and fire. 'GET OUTTA HERE!'

Hank pulled Sheila upright and, seeing the others following suit, ran as fast as he could.

He didn't dare look back.

* * *

Much to Eric's surprise, it was Presto that had yanked him to his feet. Even more of a surprise was the pace the Magician set, as if the whole of Venger's Orc army was on their tail.

He had a very confused memory of the next short while. He was running, the smell of fire and magic was strong all around him and there was the harsh shriek of duelling Dragons. Somehow, they managed to avoid any confrontations, but Hank didn't let them stop until they were as far away from the camp as they could manage.

Under the eves of a nearby forest, they staggered to a halt. Eric collapsed against a tree, Presto, Bobby, Sheila and Uni all slumped to the ground. Diana rested nearby (unsurprisingly, less out of breath that the others). Hank was the only one who stayed standing, doubled over and panting too, but still standing up. A long way behind him was the smoking remains of the camp, there were sporadic bursts of fire, lightning and magic. He could see Dragons as they flew here and there, but none flew in their direction.

'Can't … ever… move… again…' Eric gasped. The others were in no condition to reply, but someone did.

'Safe,' said a voice behind him. 'Rest.'

He looked round in surprise to see the young Golden Dragon watching him with a smirk. _Can Dragons smirk?_ Eric wondered. He gave a sigh, and rubbed the tip of its snout. _And why did you follow us?_

'Hi!' was all he could manage.

The Golden Dragon snuffled into him, resting its muzzle on his shoulder as he rested against the tree. It was looking at him again, those big red eyes glinting with happiness.

'Like,' it said, rubbing its snout slowly over his shoulder and blowing warm air into his hair. 'Friend.'

Some of the others sniggered and he knew they were gonna tease him. Fortunately, they were all too out of breath to say anything for a number of minutes. But eventually Bobby piped up.

'Seems you've finally found yourself a girlfriend, Er-ic!' said Bobby. The Cavalier pulled a face, but didn't bother to reply. The Dragon looked at the Barbarian and blew a small puff of smoke in his direction.

'Greetings, my young Adventurers.'

'Dungeonmaster!' said Diana.

The old man gave them a small bow, and a wide smile. The Golden Dragon moved to tower over him, looking excited. Dungeonmaster petted her on the nose.

'Congratulations,' he said, looking at the exhausted kids on the ground. 'Your strength, together, has thwarted this plan.'

'And I though you meant running strength,' murmured Eric facetiously.

'No,' replied Dungeonmaster in a serious tone. 'That wasn't the strength I referred to.'

Eric glared at him, daring him to say more, but the old man was looking at Hank.

'Well, perhaps you can explain what was that giant blue dragon doing there,' he asked, faintly annoyed at Dungeonmaster's attitude. But to his surprise, Diana answered instead.

'That was Apsu, the King of the Dragons,' she said, implying that it was perfectly obvious.

'How do you know?' he replied.

'We saw his statue in the town,' she explained. 'But why him?'

'The Magician's spell called one who could help Tiamat,' said Dungeonmaster. 'The Great Dragon can no longer live on this plane, yet he came to his mate's side when called.'

'Ironic,' said Diana. 'That Elf was a Priest of Apsu!'

_Elf?_ thought Eric. _What have I missed!_

Dungeonmaster gave a slow smile. 'Ironic, indeed, Acrobat.'

'Seems like the Hat has a sense of humour,' said Presto, looking at the weapons with a smile.

The Dungeonmaster turned to the young Dragon.

'You should return to your mother,' he said gently. 'These Young Ones are safe for now.'

The Dragon nodded, then turned to look at Eric, holding eye-contact for a few seconds before suddenly leaping into the sky. With two powerful sweeps of her wings, she was gone. Eric watched her fly off, feeling both happy and sad. He'd never even had a chance to say thanks.

'Well, okay then, Dungeonmaster, fount of all knowledge, what about "our trial of weakness"?' asked Eric. The old man arched an eyebrow, in a manner very similar to Eric's own, and the Cavalier shivered; why had he asked? Hadn't he shown enough weaknesses recently?

'Everybody has a weakness, Cavalier,' Dungeonmaster replied, 'and there is no shame in admitting it. But that you care for your friends, and those you have befriended in this Realm; that is not a weakness.'

The old man flicked a glance in the direction of the Ranger, that annoyingly knowing expression on his face. Eric looked too, and saw the cuts and bruises that Hank had over his face. A terrible, cold sinking feeling crept through him. But by the time he looked back, the Dungeonmaster was gone.

'Well, of course you disappear NOW!' muttered the Cavalier. 'That's just typical!'

There was an odd kind of silence now their Guide had gone. Diana was giving him one of her subtle "do something" looks, and the others were glancing anxiously between him and Hank. The Ranger himself didn't look at anyone but Sheila.

Presto tactfully suggested that they needed some food. Diana volunteered to go with him, and Bobby and his sister suddenly decided that they needed water too.

Within the minute, he and Hank were alone.

He'd had to apologise before, that time with the Cloud Bears when he'd called Hank a traitor. He hadn't even had the guts to look the other boy in the eye. This time, Hank deserved a proper apology.

'I want to say I'm sorry,' said Eric, forcing himself to look directly at the Ranger. 'I deliberately picked a fight, and I shouldn't have such a jerk about going into the town. I'm sorry you got hurt.'

Hank gave a small smile and looked up at him. Eric just stopped himself from wincing.

'Yeah, well, I guess it's not much fun to be on the receiving end of all the trouble,' Hank said. 'If this sorta thing kept happening to me, I'd be pretty pissed off too.'

Eric was too surprised to reply, and not just because Hank actually used a swear word in a normal conversation.

'Look, Eric,' continued Hank. 'Just so you know, you can tell us anything. We're your friends. These past few weeks couldn't have been easy on you.'

Eric looked at Hank suspiciously. This wasn't supposed to happen. He was supposed to apologise to Hank; Hank would accept and give him that disapproving look that he was so good at, and they would go back to normal (or what passed for normal these days). Why was Hank trying to be nice?

The initial urge was to quip and walk off, but he didn't. The Ranger looked like he really wanted to listen. All the bitterness and frustration welled up inside Eric.

'I just wanna be treated like one of the team again,' said Eric thickly. He held up his hand as Hank started to argue. 'I'm not dumb! I know what you guys are thinking, the Box of Balefire, the Warlock, the Troglodytes, Kilan. If you didn't have me with you, then I guess your lives would be a whole lot easier.'

Hank had the grace not to deny it. There was no point anyway, he could tell.

'You've been acting really strange, since we met that other group…' said the Ranger. Inside, Eric cringed. Why did Hank have to bring HER into this! He didn't want to think about her!

The anger must have shown on his face, as Hank said:

'Sheila told me what happened…' Eric flushed red, and bit back the sarcastic comment. 'I know she didn't mean to hurt your feelings.'

The Cavalier still didn't say anything, slowly realising that Hank didn't have a clue about what really happened.

'I know you think,' he said. 'That I'm some sort of spoilt little brat intent on getting things his own way all the time, but…' For once in his life, he couldn't find the right words to express himself. 'I just wanna… get home and…'

'Forget this place even existed!' interrupted the Ranger. 'Don't we all!'

Eric shook his head.

'No,' he said, ignoring the look on Hank's face. 'I wanna get home, and get on with my life. Stop waiting for things to happen, stop coasting along waiting for my trust fund to mature, stop waiting for my Dad to forg…' He stopped abruptly. There was no point in talking about that. That was NOT going to help, and he'd said too much already.

He looked at the Ranger keenly. There had never really been any doubt that Hank didn't like him, there were just too different. And though the Ranger might tolerate him, they would never be friends. Not real friends. Not good friends. Not friends enough to trust with anything… important.

'Is there something else?' asked Hank.

Eric hesitated. It had been going so well, and they seemed to have made up. Was he really gonna go back to being laughed at. Besides, it was over anyway, so…

'No,' he said firmly. 'No, there's nothing.'

Hank nodded, but Eric wasn't quite sure the Ranger believed him. Hank held out his hand.

'Friends?'

Eric took his hand, and shook it.

'Friends.'

'So, you gonna tell me how you managed to find a Dragon to ride?' asked Hank with an amused smile.

'Only if you tell me what the heck ol' Dm was talking about. Elves… Dragon _Kings_… I mean, I was only out of the game for a couple of hours! And you're a mess, you know that?' Eric added bluntly. 'But lucky for you, Presto's good with magical first aid kit. He's had enough practice recently!'

Hank laughed.

'You know what I'd love right now?'

A number of cutting quips popped into his mind, but instead Eric answered: 'A burger and an ice-cream sundae?'

Hank shook his head.

'A nice, cool swim!'

Tiamat flew slowly homewards, gliding through the narrow cave entrance with ease. Mountains of gold, both coin and cast, were still there in the safety of the cave, and glinted in the low light, as did tens of thousands of jewels.

Exhausted, the Great Dragon flew slowly down to her precious nest, gathered up the gold and jewels around her, closed her eyes and rested. She would be busy soon.

After all, the Eggs would need a lot of looking after.

* * *

The End.

* * *

Next: The Point of No Return. _Venger's back!_

Author's Notes.

On Episodes.  
Next in the sequence would be "The Cave of the Faerie Dragons".

On Quotes.  
"How could love cause this much trouble" is from a poster Rummi made for the fic "Temple of Love.  
"Aesthetics" – is indeed from H2G2. All praise to the late and very great Douglas Adams!

On Any Other Pertinent Business.  
Erm, sorry it took so long, but I kept being ill and I'd decided to give The Virtual Realm a bit of a facelift too!

Thanks to all for your reviews, conversations and support!

You, know, I'm sure I've forgotten something this time…

* * *


End file.
